


Unexpected Transformations

by LenoraLana



Category: Transformers Animated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22905535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LenoraLana/pseuds/LenoraLana
Summary: I once posted this on fanfiction.net under the name Tehmarishal. Something unexpected happens where the Autobots unexpectedly get changed into fully organic animals...
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

With aid of his two loyal Decepticons—including the mildly annoying one with the multiple personalities—Megatron had been able to locate numerous fragments from the Allspark, enough so that he could use its power for just one use.

As he studied the glowing object in front of him, he was impressed with the amount of power he felt flowing off of it. He'd managed to collect enough fragments to get a small orb out of it—nothing as powerful as the original Allspark, but it would be powerful enough.

But what should I use it for? He wondered, stroking his chin thoughtfully. He'd considered putting the energy into himself to make his robotic body even more powerful, but then another idea occurred to him as well. Suppose he used it against the Autobots somehow, thus making them easy targets? That way, perhaps the upgrades wouldn't be necessary, and he could simply make his enemies helpless, or at least low-grade.

Megatron glanced about his lab, looking for any source of inspiration. Then he gasped softly as a thought occurred to him, upon glancing at the human scientist he'd captured—the very human who helped rebuild him.

"Yes," Megatron purred softly, narrowing his optical sensors at the human. "I could make the Autobots organic…" That would certainly solve all his problems and make them a non-threat. In fact, if all went the way he hoped it would… perhaps they wouldn't even be worth paying any attention whatsoever to anymore. They might be as insignificant as the human pipsqueaks on this primitive, backwater planet.

He gently reached down and scooped the small, glowing orb into his clutches. "Once I use this," he chuckled to himself, "the Autobots will wish they never crossed paths with me at all."

And he knew just where their "secret" base was, thanks to the little device that he'd planted in the child's backpack all those months ago, when she went to the "slumber party" with the Autobots.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Prowl was meditating beneath the large tree in his room. His legs were neatly tucked beneath him and his optical sensors were half-shut. He'd found that nighttime was the best time to meditate because everyone was usually asleep, or otherwise preoccupied. And thankfully, this happened to be one night where there were no emergencies.

He knew that Bumblebee and Bulkhead were trying to cheer Sari up. He had just given them some advice a few minutes ago, basically telling them that if they truly wanted to help, they should simply be silent and let her tell them what she needed. The last time he'd checked in on them, they seemed to be taking his advice and doing very well. So he'd quietly slipped back to his room, satisfied and choosing to spend his time meditating.

He was just slipping into the relaxing depths of his innermost thoughts when suddenly, a bright flash of light erupted before his eyes, and he cried out in pain as something seemed to sear through his robotic body, twisting and changing him somehow. He collapsed on the floor, writhing, unable to feel anything except pain, and unable to see anything except a bright, white light.

Finally, the pain ceased, almost as abruptly as it came on, and the light dimmed into nothingness. He was temporarily blinded by the bright light apparently, but his eyes quickly adjusted to the normal, dim light of his room in the evening.

He groaned softly, attempting to push himself up off the floor, only to find that his arms didn't feel right. He was used to his arms being solid, only flexible at the joints, but at this very moment he could swear his arms… sensitive all over. Pretty much the same as being, in the way that they were only flexible at the joints, but they felt… well… he didn't even know how to describe it.

He shakily got to his feet, balancing himself on all fours. Then, satisfied that he'd made it that far, tried to push himself upright onto his feet—only to find that he couldn't do it. Instead he found himself falling back on all fours as he fought to maintain his balance.

Then at that moment, he noticed something—his hands looked different. Carefully balancing himself on three of his limbs, he slowly raised his right hand to his face, and gasped softly. His hand looked different—in fact, the only thing that seemed the same was that it was still black in color. But otherwise, the texture was different, the sight of it was different, and the feel of it was different. He flexed the digits, and stared with shock and fascination when actual claws extended from the ends of the digits.

Prowl set the paw down on the floor and took an experimental step forward. He found that balancing himself as he moved on all fours provided a well-balanced, effectively agile form of motion. He found himself smiling as he continued to experiment, making a small leap into the air, catching onto the side of the huge tree in his room with his claws.

It was then that he became aware of a free limb on his new body that was swinging about freely as he hung there, with all four paws digging into the tree. When he craned his neck to see behind him, he saw a long, black tail flicking about.

I must be some kind of cat! Prowl thought, and in an agile movement, he leapt down from the tree, landing gracefully on all fours. Then in a lithe movement, he walked out of his room to find the others. He just chose to stick to the shadows for the moment, because he didn't want to give them a start. Especially not before he knew what he looked like.

He slunk down the hallway toward the main control room, and became aware of a strange noise. It sounded like Bumblebee and Bulkhead were causing a commotion over something or other. Prowl could hear them raising their voices and stomping around, but they were making too much noise at once for him to understand anything coherently.

However, there were two things which caught his attention. The first thing was a bizarre sound of loud, buzzing wings, which he simply found odd. The next sound was Sari's scream, which caused him alarm. He broke into a leaping run, bolting for Sari's room, kicking the door open with his front paws and going inside.

Everything, even time itself, seemed to freeze momentarily after he entered the room. The light was on, and he could see everything clearly. There was an enormous turtle standing in the middle of the room, which seemed to cause a mini earthquake every time it took a careless step—or at least it sounded like an earthquake. Beside him, on the floor, was an enormous yellow bee with a very furry thorax, a pair of wide, frightened eyes, and a pair of huge, sputtering wings on its back.

Prowl caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see his own reflection in the large TV screen that had been put in the room for Sari before her arrival. The TV was off, and he was able to see his reflection in the glass. He gasped softly when he saw that he was a sleek, black panther with shining, sapphire eyes.

"What is that thing?" came Bumblebee's familiar voice. Prowl turned and looked at the other two creatures in the room.

"Maybe it's one of the others!" Sari said, stepping out from behind the enormous turtle. She looked puzzled and frightened by everything, but was also keeping her head. "Are you?" she asked, looking directly at Prowl.

The panther nodded his head. "It's me, Prowl," he said.

"Prowl!" Bumblebee exclaimed, buzzing his wings in agitation. "What in space happened to you? And what happened to us?"

"I do not know," Prowl said, studying the scene thoughtfully. "But it seems all of us have gone through a very strange… alteration."

"Yeah we have, I don't know what happened," Bulkhead said. "We were just in here talking to Sari, and… then happened." He lifted one of his large feet indicatively.

"Sari," Prowl said, looking at the human girl, "what happened?"

"I don't know," Sari replied, and began talking fast—a habit she had whenever she got overly excited, "I just saw this big huge flash of light come in through the window—" she spread her arms out indicatively, "—and then these guys—" she indicated the altered Bulkhead and Bumblebee, "started moaning and groaning and then the fell on the floor and I saw them both change and Bulkhead became a huge turtle and Bumblebee became a REAL Bumblebee!" She paused and sucked in a breath of air and then went on, a bit more slowly. "And my key started to glow when it happened!" She touched her most valued possession as she spoke of it, gripping the key tightly in her fingers.

"I think we should find Optimus and Rachet," Bulkhead cut in.

"Oh no, do you think they've been changed too?" Bumblebee asked. "Hey, anyone want to wager what they might have turned into?"

"I think someone has been watching too much TV," Prowl said in annoyance, although there was a trace of amusement in his eyes. Both emotions faded abruptly; they all had more important things to focus on at the moment. "But yes, we should find them."

"Hey wait a moment," Bulkhead said, glancing down at himself. "Does this mean we can't transform anymore?"

That made everyone in the room pause. Then all three of the Autobots tried to transform, but it seemed like nothing could happen. Also, they were no longer able to access any of their systems or even run an internal diagnostic.

"It seems that we are entirely organic," Prowl observed. "Fascinating…" He again faced the blank television screen, studying his reflection, then held his paw before his face again, studying it intently.

"So this means we're stuck like this? And we can't transform or even tell when something is wrong? We're no longer MACHINES?" Bumblebee's voice reached a level of high-pitched panic. "HOW AM I GOING TO DO ANYTHING WITHOUT MY ELECTIC STINGERS?"

"Hello, I'm an organic you know!" Sari said. "I've lived like this every day all my life and I've gotten by just fine!"

Before anyone could say anything, the door burst open again, revealing a large, shaggy wolf. It was quite large, having mostly reddish/brown fur with a white mask on its face, a white underbelly, and white paws. Plus one of its ears looked cropped, as though from an old injury.

"Oh my!" the wolf said in Rachet's voice, blinking as it looked at each and everyone in the room. "I think I can guess who each of you are," it added.

"Rachet? Oh my gosh! It got you too!" Bumblebee said. "Hey… actually, you don't look half bad. Whatever happened though, it just made the big guy here uglier." He tapped on Bulkhead's shell.

"Hey!" Bulkhead said.

"Enough!" Prowl said, raising a paw. He then turned back to Rachet. "Where is Optimus?" the panther inquired. "How is he?"

"Let's just say that he's gone through the same changes as the rest of us," Rachet said, his bushy, shaggy tail swishing once in agitation. He then seemed annoyed by his new, fifth limb, and laid it on the floor to keep it out of the way. Then he turned back to the others. "But we've got a serious problem, due to the nature of his change."

"What kind of problem?" Sari was the first to ask.

"I think it would be best if all of you see for yourselves," Rachet said, already turning to lead the way out of the room.

All of them headed toward the main control room, and once they were there, they saw what the problem was. There was an enormous, great blue whale sitting on the floor, motionless except for some movement from the head, and from the tail.

Bumblebee practically screamed, "Oh my gosh! A beached whale!"

"Essentially, yes," Rachet said. "Apparently all of us have taken on the exact, biological characteristics of the animals we've been changed into. And we have to get Optimus into salt water fast, or he's going to… terminate."

Everyone looked at each other. It would be difficult for them to move a large whale in their robot modes, but all of them had been changed into animals. They knew where the nearest ocean was—it was where their ship had crashed. The question was how to get there.

"Sari, do you think your key can help?" Bulkhead asked hopefully.

"I don't know," Sari said, narrowing her eyes as she held the key in her hand, taking a few steps toward Optimus. But there just didn't seem to be any place to plug it into, and when she reached out and touched him, all she felt was flesh.

"Guys, we gotta find some way to get him out of here!" she exclaimed, abandoning her attempt to find a way to use the key.

"But how?" Bumblebee asked.


	2. Chapter 2

For a moment, no one was sure what to do. They simply looked at each other, searching their brains for ideas.

"If I were a robot, I could simply use my magnetic pulse to get him to the ocean," Rachet said thoughtfully. His body was positioned as though he were half-crouched, half-seated, as though he was trying to get used to his new body. "But of course," he added with a sigh, "it would work best if Optimus was still a robot, too."

"Well guys, we aren't robots anymore!" Bumblebee exclaimed, buzzing his wings in agitation.

Prowl groaned softly in annoyance. As if Bumblebee wasn't annoying and loud enough in his robot mode, now he seemed to have developed a subconscious habit of buzzing his wings whenever he got excited. "Bumblebee, please keep your wings still," the panther asked.

"Oh," Bumblebee said, bringing his wings to stillness. "You know, I gotta try these out sometime!" He raised his wings up on his back, craning his neck to look at them. "Hey, maybe one of those nature shows that Prowl bored us to death with will actually come in handy now!"

"Excuse me," Optimus's voice chimed in, sounding a touch deeper than it ever had before—and less robotic. "I'd hate to cut into this fascinating discussion, but I still need to get to the ocean."

"At least we have one advantage," Prowl observed.

"What's that?" Bumblebee asked.

"Optimus isn't anywhere near as large as a regular blue whale," Prowl replied. He gestured toward their leader with his paw. "Look at him—he's only about twenty-five feet long at most. A regular great blue whale can be up to a hundred feet long."

"Oh Geez, thanks for the tip!" Bumblebee said, waving the forward-most two of his six legs in exasperation. "You know, that nature channel might have cluttered your processors with enough useless facts to make you an expert on our new animal forms, but could you keep the more useless facts to yourself?"

"Guys!" Sari cut in. "You know, like Optimus said, we need to find a way to get him out of here." She looked down at her key again, gripping it tightly in her hand. Come on, she thought, can't you do anything useful right now instead of just hanging here like a useless object?

Suddenly, as if in response to that thought, it began to glow slightly. She gasped softly as the end of the key slowly pointed itself toward Rachet, and momentarily illuminated him in a soft, white light. Then, after the light died down, it pointed itself at Optimus, and illuminated him in a white aura as well, then that, too, died down. The key then proceeded to make its rounds until it had done the same thing to the rest of the former Autobots, then the key stopped glowing, and fell limp, simply hanging from the cord around Sari's neck as it had before.

"Okay… that was weird," Bulkhead said, glancing down at himself. "And I didn't feel a thing."

"No but I feel a little different, somehow," Bumblebee said, twitching his abdomen.

"Where does it feel different?" Rachet asked, the medic side of him momentarily kicking in.

"Uh, I'd rather not say," Bumblebee replied, somewhat sheepishly.

"Wait a minute," Rachet said, narrowing his eyes. "I don't know why exactly, but I feel like I want to try something." Then, with all eyes on him, he slowly turned and looked at one of the many storage crates they had there. He carefully balanced himself in a seated position with his hind legs and tail and then slowly raised his forward paws. He then closed eyes and concentrated.

After a moment, the crate began to slowly lift off the floor. There was no light, no energy, or anything at all—it simply seemed to move all by itself. All eyes shifted from the crate to Rachet and back to the crate again. Then, with great care, Rachet slowly set the storage crate back down on the floor.

"Wow," Bulkhead said. "How did you do that?"

"I don't really know," Rachet replied, glancing down at his paws thoughtfully. "But I'd say Sari's key may have had something to do with it."

"I'd say that the abilities were already within us," Prowl said. "Sari's key simply enabled them." He glanced toward the storage crate thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "I have seen some entertainments on TV—I believe they're called 'science fiction'—where it is believed that organics can possess hidden 'gifts', such as telekinesis. Perhaps this may be something similar… we still have our upgrades, we just need to rediscover the organic equivalent of them in our altered bodies."

"Wow," Bumblebee said. "In that case I wonder what I've got!" He glanced down at himself again. "You know, this sorta reminds me of the movie I saw last week where—"

"Come on, let's see if I can get Optimus out of here," Rachet said, ignoring Bumblebee and cutting him off at the same time. He closed his eyes, and began to focus all of his energy on the whale before him. Then, very slowly, he made Optimus rise off the floor.

"The only question is… will he fit through the door?" Prowl asked with a frown.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It took a while to maneuver Optimus out of their headquarters, (especially with some non-helpful comments and complaints on behalf of Bumblebee, which proved distracting at times) but thankfully it was still nighttime, and they did their best to be as inconspicuous as they could, being a rag-tag group of odd-looking animals with a whale in tow. They also found that it would take them longer to get anywhere in these animal forms than it would in their vehicle modes, and they considered it unfortunate that they could no longer transform into those forms.

Rachet was unable to maintain his telekinesis shortly after they left the building. It seemed he had used up most of his energy just getting Optimus out of there. He was just barely able to lower the blue whale onto Bulkhead's enormous shell before collapsing.

"Bumblebee, I think you and Sari should escort Rachet back to the base," Prowl suggested. Just as he knew they would, both Sari and Bumblebee protested. But Prowl firmly insisted, partially because he was getting somewhat tired of all the obnoxious comments—not to mention the complaining—Bumblebee had been giving out ever since they'd began trying to help Optimus. Another reason was that he felt there wasn't much Sari could do in this situation, especially since he doubted her key would be able to repair organics. In truth, even though he didn't admit this out loud, he just wanted them both out of the way, and in a place where they would (hopefully) be safer.

Finally, the two of them reluctantly agreed to go back to the base, and so Prowl assisted Rachet to lean heavily on Bumblebee's back. "Oh, whoa!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "You know I swear you've gotten even heavier as an animal, Rachet!"

"Just shut up and help me back to the base," Rachet said grumpily. His voice sounded somewhat strained. "I feel like I could use a few hours' sleep, at the very least."

Prowl began to formulate a theory that the use of telekinesis could possibly cause a drain of energy reserves in an organic faster than it would in a machine. Another part of his mind began to form a hypothesis that, as he has observed on a workout program on the TV was that, over time, organics could become stronger and better built if they exercised properly. Perhaps… the same could be said for mental workouts. Perhaps over time, Rachet would be able to better use his ability if he kept at it, just so long as he gave himself adequate time to recover in-between usages.

Prowl shoved the thought out of his mind; Bulkhead was already moving in the direction of the ocean, and he needed to focus on the task at hand.

The only problem was that Bulkhead was rather slow, all things considered, but it couldn't be helped. He was rather heavy, and turtles were not exactly built for speed. But they both also knew that Optimus couldn't wait around forever to get to the ocean.

"We're going to need to find a faster way to get him there," the panther finally said.

"Well, I'm open to suggestions," Bulkhead said. "I just can't go any faster!"

Prowl looked around, using his eyes to scan the area for anything that might be useful. He then noticed a large truck, one that it looked like some people were taking some things out of to take into a shopping plaza.

"Let's try that truck!" Prowl said, already moving.

"Hey but isn't that like… stealing?" Bulkhead asked.

"We have no choice, considering our circumstances," Prowl replied. He paused in his step, looking over his shoulder at the large turtle. "Besides I wouldn't call it stealing, I'd simply call it 'borrowing'."

"No," came Optimus's voice. He sounded weak and strained, but was still able to speak. "Ask them, first."

Prowl looked at the Autobot leader for a moment, then simply nodded. He then ran in the direction of the nearby truck—which was just across the street from them.

It seemed that the men who were unloading the truck were just getting the last of it out as the panther approached. Perfect, and fortunate, Prowl thought. He walked up to the humans who owned the truck, and was about to speak to them when they spotted him. They started at him for a second, screamed, dropped what they had been unloading, and ran off.

Prowl stared after them for a moment, then glanced down at himself. They must fear me because I am a predator, he thought. Unfortunate, yet perhaps it would make things a little easier. He turned to look toward Bulkhead, and gestured him to come on over.

Once Bulkhead made it to the truck, it took some careful balancing and maneuvering, and a bit of help from Prowl, to get Optimus the whale into the truck. "Okay… what are you going to do now?" Bulkhead asked somewhat breathlessly, after they were finished getting Optimus inside.

"I must try to drive," Prowl replied, already moving toward the front of the truck. He had some difficulty getting the door open with his paws, but he finally managed to do it with some manipulation of his paws and claws. Then he hopped up into the drivers' seat. Thankfully, the key was still in the ignition, so it was simply a matter of starting the engine—somewhat awkwardly since his paws consisted of toes, not fingers—and then the real "fun" began.

He knew how to operate a vehicle, especially since he'd seen plenty of things on TV, and he had, after all, been a motorcycle. So he had the basic knowledge within his mind, but it was rather tricky to coordinate his body, and all of his paws, to be able to control the vehicle.

Yet somehow or other, he managed to keep the truck on the road at least, although he'd been forced to go right through a red light due to the fact that he couldn't reach the brakes. And he ended up swerving to the wrong side of the road when he had to go around a sharp bend, almost causing an accident, but thankfully the other cars managed to get out of the way in time.

Finally, Prowl got the truck to his intended destination… and found that he still couldn't stop it. So he did the only thing he could think to do. He allowed it to keep going, even increasing the speed as best he could, then he aimed it directly toward the edge of the platform, the one that they always jumped off of whenever they wanted to go back to their ship. Then, satisfied that the truck would go into the water in less than a minute, Prowl struggled with the door handle, trying to get it open. He needed to get out of the truck before it went into the water, or he was going to drown.

He glanced up, as he continued to struggle with the handle. The truck was getting ever closer to the water, and he needed to get out now. He gritted his teeth and dug his paws into the handle with all his might, and let out a triumphant grunt as he succeeded in opening the door—

—Just as the truck went over the edge of the platform, going down toward the water. As a result, Prowl simply went flying out of the truck, into the water.

The first thing he became aware of was how cold the water was. He had to fight with all his might to resist inhaling, so that he would not bring water into his lungs. Then, struggling against the bitter chill he felt, he did his best to swim to the surface.

Once he got his head above water, he gasped, sucking air into his lungs. Then he splashed with his paws, fighting to keep his nose and mouth above the surface. He looked upward, desperate to see Bulkhead somewhere, but the turtle was nowhere to be seen. Of course, Prowl thought as his teeth began to chatter, at his speed, it will take Bulkhead a while just to get here.

Just then, when he was beginning to feel like he couldn't stay at the surface much longer, something solid pushed itself up from beneath him, raising him out of the water. Prowl gasped as the cool breeze blew across his drenched fur, causing him to feel even more chilled.

"Need a lift?" a familiar voice said. Prowl started, and then looked down to see who it was. It was Optimus himself—specifically, the whale's face—that Prowl was sitting on.

"Yes I do, and thanks," Prowl said, shivering badly now. He then decided to do something he'd seen a cat do on TV once. He slowly stood and raised his back, then shook himself out, fluffing out his fur and sending water flying in every direction.

"Good thing I'm already wet," Optimus said humorously. Then in a more serious tone, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"I think I will be as soon as I get out of here and get dried off," Prowl replied. He sat down on Optimus's head, curling his tail around himself and folding his legs in, then tucked his head in. He was doing his best to conserve body head until he could figure out how to get back onto the shore.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time Bulkhead finally arrived on the scene, at the edge of the platform where the Autobots always went when they wanted to go to their ship, there were numerous camera bots hovering in the area. Plus there were several police vehicles, which included none other than Captain Fanzone's vehicle—the very car which had been nicknamed "Bumblebee's twin brother" by someone unknown.

At first there seemed to be some excitement and fear upon seeing an enormous turtle going through the city along the roads, especially when it was discovered that it could talk. However, after a bit of talking and convincing, the giant turtle managed to convince Captain Fanzone that it was actually Bulkhead.

"What in tarnation?" Fanzone exclaimed, his jaw dropping as he stared up at the giant turtle. People were everywhere, mostly people from the police and fire department, along with a few onlookers—although the civilians were kept back at a safe distance. The air was filled with the sound of piercing sirens as a few more emergency vehicles arrived, and the entire area was lit up with flash lights.

"I have no idea what happened," Bulkhead exclaimed, "all I know is that one minute everything was fine, and the next… I look like this." He looked down at himself, and raised one of his feet to get a good look at it, then set it back down again.

Fanzone shook his head in astonishment. "Just when I thought I've seen everything," he muttered. "How in the world could this have possibly happened to you? This has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen or heard of in my career, and that's saying something!"

"I don't know," Bulkhead said. "But look, I gotta help my friend—I think he's stuck out there." The giant turtle pointed his leg down at the water, and the human captain turned to see what he was pointing at.

Captain Fanzone gasped when he saw it. "Oh my Lord," he exclaimed. "What is that—a cat sitting on a whale's nose? In the middle of the water?" Then something clicked in his brain, and the captain narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute, if you were somehow turned into a big turtle…" He snapped his fingers and pointed toward the animals in the middle of the water, "are those a couple of your fellow Autobots down there?"

"Yep," Bulkhead said.

"Who are they?"

"Optimus Prime is the whale, and Prowl is the cat," Bulkhead replied.

"Optimus Prime is a whale?" Fanzone blinked, and for a moment it was like his mind didn't even absorb that. Then, as if to try and get it through his own head, he said again, "Optimus Prime is a whale." He turned and looked back toward the water, where the said whale had swam closer to where they were, with the large cat sitting on its nose—a very still cat, except for the shivering. Then, one more time, Fanzone said to himself, "Optimus Prime is a whale."

Then, according to a human phrase Bulkhead had heard somewhere, apparently the realization had "tickled his funny bone" upon finally sinking in. Fanzone nearly doubled over with several gut-wrenching guffaws. It took him nearly a full two minutes just to regain his composure.

"Okay… please go on," Fanzone said, sounding rather winded from all the laughing. He'd finally regained his composure—or maybe it was just that he didn't have the oxygen to laugh anymore. "How did they wind up out there?" he asked.

"Well," Bulkhead said, "we all knew we needed to get Prime to the water, but we couldn't get here very fast, so… Prowl kinda borrowed a large truck to put Prime in. But considering they're both down there… I'm assuming that the whole truck fell in the water."

"So you basically just took the first truck you saw and drove it into the water," Fanzone said.

"Yeah, pretty much," Bulkhead said.

"This is going to be a long night," Fanzone said, putting his hand against his forehead. He could already feel a headache coming on.

"Prime should be fine down there, but we need to get Prowl up here," Bulkhead said.

"No need!" called out Prowl's voice from below. "I think I can make it on my own!" Then the panther crouched, and with a mighty leap, he managed to catch onto the edge of the platform above him with his claws, and gripped tightly. At Captain Fanzone's command, several human policemen helped him up. Although the sight of a large, black panther—especially a talking one—was rather unnerving in some ways.

"You alright, Prowl?" Optimus called out from below.

"I believe I am well… at least I will be once I get dried off," Prowl replied. He was still shivering violently.

"Alright, go back to base and see how the others are doing," Optimus said. "Then maybe you could come back here once you're sure you all are alright, and… we can try and discuss what to do."

Prowl nodded, and Bulkhead gave a verbal acknowledgement. Then, with that, the two of them began their long, brisk walk back to the base. They had a more difficult time making certain they weren't followed, though. In their animal forms, they couldn't just drive away quickly and vanish from sight like they could with their vehicle modes.

By the time they did get back to the base, Prowl was quite chilled and even sneezing. He had to admit the sensation was mildly interesting, in that he had never known what it was like for an organic to be sick. But that didn't mean he liked it; it wasn't very pleasant.

When they got inside, they saw that Ratchet had pretty much recovered. And the first thing the old wolf did was take a look at the ailing Prowl, but right up front he said one thing: "I'm skilled at fixing up robots, not organics; I'm not sure how much I can do." Ratchet sighed, shaking his head.

"I think what I need to do," Prowl said, finding it slightly difficult to talk due to his teeth chattering uncontrollably, "is to get dried off and increase my body temperature."

With that, they found some cloth items within the plant that, while slightly greasy and oily, did the trick of absorbing moisture. It seemed that they were some old, abandoned uniforms that had been thrown into an old trunk, so thankfully they were free of dust, at least. Ratchet and Sari helped to get Prowl as dry as they possibly could, and then Bumblebee increased the temperature in the room by several degrees. "Don't worry, ninja-cat, we'll have you warmed up in no time," the large insect said.

Sari got a large blanket out of her room and draped it over Prowl's shoulders and back. "This should help too, I hope," the human girl said.

Prowl smiled at her, and he lay himself on the floor, tucking the corners of the blanket under himself. He had to admit, he was feeling a little better now. Although his olfactory seemed somewhat… clogged.

He then recalled something that Sari had done the time when she'd gotten drenched and began sneezing for a while. Upon remembering that, he gently took one of the corners of the blanket into his paw, gently using his claws to get a grip on it. Then he took a deep breath through his mouth, pressed his nose against it, and exhaled forcefully through his nose.

Sure enough, it did clear out his nose, plus it left some light yellow-colored… slime, or gunk, on the blanket.

"Ew!" Sari exclaimed. "Prowl, that's what Kleenex is for!" She rolled her eyes and then she said, "I think I have a big handkerchief in my room—be right back."

She went it got it then brought it to him, used it to wipe the gunk off the blanket as best she could, then handed it to him. "Whenever you want to blow your nose, use this," she told him.

Prowl simply nodded and took the proffered item.

"So, I take it you got Prime to safety?" Ratchet asked.

"Yeah he's in the water where he needs to be now," Bulkhead said. "He asked us to meet him there once we were sure we were all okay, so that we could talk about what to do next."

"So how do you think we got like this?" Bumblebee asked. "Although I must say I kinda like it… I've never been able to see in so many directions at once before!"

"Insects have numerous eyes," Prowl murmured out loud. His voice sounded somewhat hoarse, and he took a moment to clear his throat. Then he continued, "And I am not sure, although I wouldn't be surprised if the Decepticons had something to do with this."

"What makes you say that?" Bulkhead asked.

"It is the only thing I can think of," Prowl replied simply.

"Oh, that's a great a theory!" Bumblebee said. "But… well, I'm guessing we'll find out what happened to us eventually."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at the Decepticon base, things had taken a rather… well, unexpected turn.

It seemed that when Megatron used the device to change the Autobots into organic creatures, it had backfired in a very unexpected way; it changed the Decepticons into organics as well!

Megatron knew something was wrong when, well, his body just didn't feel right. So he took a moment to look at his reflection on a reflective surface within the base, and he saw that he had been turned into…

A crocodile.

He had a long snout rimmed with razor sharp teeth, large red eyes, and a rough, scaly body. He was sort of a grayish/green in color.

On impulse, he went to check on his underlings, to see what had happened to them.

The first individual he saw was a large chameleon, sitting almost hunched in a corner, looking around like it was unsure what was going on. The eyes were darting about wildly, and after a moment, the skin changed color so that it blended perfectly with its background, literally vanishing from sight.

"Who is that?" Megatron asked, moving toward the spot where the creature had vanished.

The creature did not reappear, but it spoke; "Megatron, is that you?" From the way the voice sounded, it seemed that the creature had moved from its spot a little.

"Blitzwing," Megatron murmured, recognizing the voice. "Where are you? Show yourself!"

Instantly, the chameleon allowed its colors to return to its previous gray-and-purple colors, and looked at its leader. "What has happened to us?" the creature exclaimed.

"It seems that my plan backfired," Megatron replied. He growled under his breath. "Where is Lugnut?"

In answer to his question, an enormous warthog came into view. "You call for me, my Master?" it said in Lugnut's voice.

If Megatron had been anatomically able to, he would have smacked himself in the forehead. Obviously, this was going to be a looooong day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Grimlock had no idea what happened, and neither did either of his Dinobot companions. Snarl and Swoop each looked equally confused.

"What happened to Grimlock?" the tyrannosaurus said out loud, looking at his reflection in a large puddle of water on the island. "Grimlock can't change shape anymore, and Grimlock looks different!" He looked down at himself. "Grimlock even feels different!"

Indeed, all three of them had apparently become organic, which was very, very strange to them.

Just then, there was an ear-piercing scream that filled the air. Alarmed, all three of the dinosaurs practically stampeded toward the old base, recognizing it as BlackArachnia's scream.

They found her in there, in her spider form—only she looked more like a natural spider than ever before. Her body was smoother, and the middle of her back was even lightly furred. Anything that had been mechanical on her body before had been completely replaced with a purely organic look.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs, and kept shrinking backward as though she couldn't even stand herself anymore. But of course, there was no way she could get away from herself. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING—I AM A BOT, AT LEAST HALF BOT!"

She continued screaming, until she finally spotted the Dinobots. Then, after they studied each other in silence for a few nano-kliks, she screamed again.

Then she turned and fled, as fast as her eight organic legs could carry her.

"Spider lady—come back!" Grimlock shouted, but she was already gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Ratchet had recovered as well as he could, and so everyone made their way down to Lake Eerie in order to talk things over with Optimus. They ended up coming right up to the water's edge, where Optimus the whale came as close as he could without the risk of getting suck against the shore.

"So," Optimus said, "any leads yet?"

"Not really," Ratchet said. "It seems that we still have some of our abilities, sort of, or at least an equivalent of them. I can move things with telekinesis instead of with my magnetic power, to name an example."

"So, how the frag are we supposed to get back to normal?" Bumblebee demanded.

"That's what we need to figure out," Optimus said. "Alright," he said thoughtfully, "I'm somewhat… limited here right now, considering I'm stuck in the water. But I'd like the rest of you to see how much you can find out."

"I think it might be best if Bulkhead stays here with you," Prowl said.

"Why's that?" Bulkhead asked.

"Because you're a giant turtle," the black panther answered. "I think that I, and perhaps Ratchet, can get around without drawing as much attention to ourselves, but a giant turtle is difficult not to spot."

"What about a giant bee?" Bumblebee asked, buzzing his wings indicatively.

"You can just fly high so that no one sees you," Prowl replied. "I will use my stealth so that no one can see me. And Ratchet can simply pass himself off as a stray canine."

"Thanks a lot," Ratchet muttered.

"We'll need to set a rendezvous point," Optimus said. "Let's say we try to meet back in here… in three days? That should hopefully give each of us a chance to find out something."

The others agreed. Then it was also agreed that Bulkhead would stay with Optimus and help him in any way possible. Optimus decided to investigate around the lake a little bit, even though he doubted he would find anything useful. It would simply give him something to do to pass the time.

With that, everyone dispersed, each going off in a different direction—except for Optimus and Bulkhead, who tried to stay near each other, for the time being at least.

0o0o0o0o0

BlackArachnia had never felt so disgusted in her entire life. It was bad enough being half-organic, but now she was a full-organic! Part of her wanted to run and keep on running, part of her wanted to kill herself.

She still didn't know what to do, or how to deal with this new situation. So she did the only thing she could think to do, and that was to simply keep moving, unsure where she was even going.

0o0o0o0o0

Optimus Prime found that he could manage his new body quite easily, although he found the whale form to be a bit cumbersome. Though if anything, searching like this was getting rather annoying. He couldn't leave the water, and to make matters worse, having Bulkhead as his only companion was really slowing him down. A giant turtle simply could not move all that fast.

He could only hope that the others would have better luck.

0o0o0o0o0

Bumblebee was not sure why, or how, he ended up on Dinobot Island. It was actually one of the last places he'd wanted to go. Maybe he'd gotten lost or something, though he wasn't sure.

He was still trying to get used to the buzzing noise his wings made when he flew—he liked being able to fly for once, but the noise was even starting to get on his nerves. Not only that, but he was also trying to get used to the fact that he now had lots and lots of little tiny insect eyes, and could see in many directions at once.

So needless to say he was a bit confused at times, yet part of him was happy to see a somewhat familiar face… even though he wasn't happy to see the individual himself. Plus, the said individual was not happy to see him, either.

"Me Grimlock destroy intruder!" the giant, flesh-and-blood T-Rex said, and threw back his head and roared. Then, stomping his foot, he added, "But me Grimlock can no longer breath fire! So me Grimlock will smash!"

Bumblebee had set down on the ground a mere moment ago, in order to let his wings rest and to try and get his bearings. But now, he was forced to take off once again to avoid being stomped on. However, as he flew high into the sky, a pteranadon flew after him—and it didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that it was simply another of the Dinobots.

"Go away! SHOO!" Bumblebee buzzed, trying to get away. "Leave me alone!"

The only reply was a shrill shriek from the pteranadon, as it continued to chase poor Bee around and around in circles. Down below, Grimlock and his triceratops companion could only watch as they flew around above their heads.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"I think I see something."

Bulkhead literally perked up when he heard Optimus say those words. Frankly, anything even remotely interesting to break the dullness of this slow, monotonous trek with him following Optimus beside the water's edge was welcome.

"What is it, boss-bot—er, boss-whale?" Bulkhead asked curiously.

"I think it might be an Allspark fragment," Optimus replied, narrowing his eyes. "I'm going to go down and check it out." With that, he took a deep breath through his blow-hole, and dove down into the water to investigate.

When he got close enough to look, he could see that it was definitely an Allspark fragment, and a large one at that. It was sticking up out of the water, although he noticed something rather odd about it. It seemed to be… oddly colored. Instead of the normal white color that Allspark fragments usually had, this one was sort of a reddish color. It made him wonder if it had suffered some impurities somehow or other.

Very carefully, he grabbed it with his large whale lips, pulling it out of the water. Yet as he did so, it seemed to give off an electrical pulse that stung his mouth. Reacting in pain, he opened his mouth wide and tried to swim away, his impulses momentarily overriding his logic circuits.

However, as he swam forward, the Allspark fragment ended up going into his mouth, and he swallowed it.

Then something strange began to happen, as the fragment entered his systems. He felt his entire body begin to change, as it began to compact itself a bit, and his tail changed, and flippers turned into legs. Even his skin began to change, going from slightly furred whale blubber to finer and furred.

"Prime!" Bulkhead shouted, as Optimus somehow managed to come up near the surface, gasping for air. "What the frag is happening to you?"

Right before Bulkhead's very eyes, Optimus's animal form was changing into something else.

0o0o0o0o0o

Megatron was beginning to feel hungry, and he surprised himself when he found himself looking at Lugnut the warthog in a longing manner. Well, blame it on being a crocodile, he supposed.

Blitzwing was being more annoying than anything else. He still had his multiple personalities, and it seemed like his voice and his camouflage skin colors changed each time his personality mode shifted. His face no longer changed though, just his colors.

Finally, Megatron made a decision. "We are going out to… get something to eat," he ordered grimly. He didn't like the idea of leaving the safety of the base in this condition, but he felt he had no real choice. It was either go out and get some organic fuel for his organic body, or possibly starve eventually.

"Oooo that sounds like fun!" the crazed Blitzwing with black and red colors, exclaimed.

0o0o0o0o0o0

BlackArachnia groaned as a couple of her legs stumbled across the rough forest trail she was on. She was still running away from herself, and she had no idea where she was going. But she had to admit she was tired of running. She just wanted to lie down and go to sleep, or perhaps even die.

But right down… she would simply settle down lying down on the ground and indulging in some apathy. So she did just that, plopping herself down right where she was.

"If I am guessing correctly, you're not a natural organic."

BlackArachnia leaped to her feet and spun around as quickly as she could on her spider-legs. She used her multiple eyes to look around for the owner of the voice, wanting to know who had spoken.

"Show yourself!" she spat. "Who is there?"

Just then, a large, pit-bull came into view. "I believe you know me," he said. "If you are who I think you are. But I know you wouldn't recognize me like this. Though surely you might be able to recognize my voice."

BlackArachnia let out another hiss. "Lockdown?" she spat. "What are you doing here? And what happened to you?"

"What happened to me? Same thing that happened to you, I'm assuming. What am I doing here? Following you." The pit-bull smirked. "I think we both want the same thing. We want to get our robotic-forms back. If I still had my robot form, I wouldn't be here. But in this form, I am somewhat limited on what I can do. So I'm here in the hopes of forming a temporary alliance."

"Oh yeah? For what?"

Lockdown rolled his eyes. "We can help each other to try and find out how we got like this, and hopefully return to normal." He narrowed his eyes. "Unless you'd rather just sit here and mope about your condition."

BlackArachnia thought it over. She had waited a thousand stellar cycles to be able to do anything at all about her organic mode, and just because she was now stuck in a full organic mode it didn't mean she had to stop searching.

And well, if she never returned to normal at this point… at least misery loved company. She was no longer alone.

"Fine," she said. "I'm in. Any leads?"

0o0o0o0o0o0

There was one problem with being fully organic, and that was something that Bumblebee and Swoop quickly found out. Organics ran out of energy—not to mention breath—more quickly than robots did.

Both of them tired out, and Swoop had no choice but to half-land, half-crash onto the ground and catch his breath.

Bumblebee took this opportunity to find a good hiding place where he could recover himself. He planned to stay there for a while, get some rest, and then see if he could find the others.

He just hoped that Prowl, Ratchet, Prime and Bulkhead were having an easier time of it than he was.

0o0o0o0o0o0

It took some effort, but Optimus Prime managed to crawl onto the shore in his new animal form, where he then collapsed in front of Bulkhead's massive form. He drew in several, deep breaths, then coughed and spluttered as his lungs expelled the water he'd inhaled.

"Prime, you've changed!" Bulkhead exclaimed, as he looked down at Optimus.

Optimus looked down at himself. He was definitely not a whale anymore; he seemed to be some sort of land animal now. "What the slag am I?" he exclaimed.


	5. Chapter 5

Ratchet felt quite grumpy, for more reasons than one. The most obvious reason was simply because he was not used to being organic, and that an aged organic body was, if anything, far more rickety and difficult to maneuver than an aged Autobot body.

His legs were really starting to hurt from all of the walking and running he'd done, plus he was rather aggravated at the way some people seemed inclined to shoo him out of some areas, while other people seemed to want to play "fetch" with him.

On top of that, a car that came around a corner too quickly ended up splashing water all over his furry body when it hit a tunnel. And he found that having a drenched body, especially one covered with such thick fur, was not pleasant.

Ratchet growled as he ducked into an alleyway, trying to figure out what to do now. "If I don't end up hating humans by the time this is over," he muttered under his breath, "it's going to be a miracle!"

Just then, he noticed another kind of vehicle coming up to a stop near the alleyway. It was a large, dark brown van, and he saw two humans step out of it. They appeared to be wearing some sort of uniform, and one of them held what appeared to be a long stick with a loop on the end.

"There!" one of the men shouted, pointing directly at Ratchet. "That's the mutt that's been seen around the city, I think."

"Yep," the other man answered. "Looks like the one that folks have been complaining about."

"Looks kinda shaggy, must be a stray."

Ratchet growled, taking a step back. He was certainly not a stray. He wanted to say something, but he thought better of it, considering the few times he did try to talk to someone, they had reacted somewhat weirdly toward him, treating him like he was merely a source of entertainment.

So he broke into a run, taking off down the street, forcing his aching legs to keep going. He was all too aware that the two men were in hot pursuit after him.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"You okay, boss-bot?" Bulkhead asked, looking down at the furry creature that lay before him.

"Yeah, I think so," Optimus said. With some effort, he managed to get to his feet. He was still rather shaky though, especially since his entire body had just gone through another change.

He glanced down at himself, noticing that he had paws now, and definitely fur. He craned his head to try and get a better look at himself, and then he noticed he had a tail. I must be some kind of cat, like Prowl, he thought.

He then moved toward the water's edge to see if he could catch a glimpse of his reflection. He saw it, and gasped slightly at the sight of himself. Optimus Prime was now a orange-and-black striped tiger, with a snowy white underbelly and white paws. His face was mostly orange with handsome black markings, although his chin and mouth were white, as was his throat.

"At least it's better than being a whale," he commented, touching his chin with one of his paws.

"Yeah, and you're not stuck in the water anymore," Bulkhead said.

"Bulkhead," Optimus said thoughtfully, as an idea began to form in his mind, "think you can swim and keep yourself above water?"

"Um, well… I've heard that turtles can be pretty good swimmers," Bulkhead said. If he had been able to, he probably would have shrugged. Instead he merely cocked his head a bit to one side. "Why do you ask?"

"I think we should try and get to Dinobot Island," Optimus said slowly. "Our ship is over there, and if we can get to it, we might be able to use some of our equipment to gain more information."

"Well, I can certainly try," Bulkhead said, and moved toward the water's edge.

"Think you can carry me on your back?" Optimus asked.

"If you don't mind getting wet," Bulkhead replied, stepping into the water just enough to be ankle-deep. "I mean, I think I might be able to stay near the surface, but I won't be able to keep the water off of you."

"Just let me be able to keep my nose above water, and I'll be fine," Optimus assured him. Then, in a quick, smooth motion, he leaped onto the green turtle's back.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Bumblebee wasn't having a very good time, and that was putting it mildly. He was feeling weak and like he needed to refuel, but he had no idea what bees ate, exactly. For once, he actually felt a little bad for having picked on Prowl so much for his knowledge of nature. The fact was, Bee knew he could actually use some of that knowledge right now.

Plus he was still hiding from the Dinobots. So far they hadn't been able to find him in his current hiding spot, under a clump of bushes. But he knew they were out there, looking for him. They didn't want him there, and they were either going to squish him or chase him off, whichever it took.

So Bee simply sat there, for the time being at least, wondering what the heck he should do.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ratchet continued to run along the streets, although he was starting to get rather winded. The human dog-catchers were gaining on him, and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to stay away from them forever.

Finally, when he reached the end of one street, he came a stop, turned around, and growled. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do, because he didn't want to draw attention to himself or harm anyone. But perhaps he could somehow use his telekinesis ability to his advantage here…

"Ratchet!" came a yell, and heads turned in the direction of the sound.

"Sari?" Ratchet asked. The young girl came running over to him just as the dog-catchers got closer as well. The red-haired girl was holding something in her hands… something that looked like a leash.

Sari made a "Shhh" noise toward Ratchet, then looked toward the dog-catchers. "I'm so sorry!" she said to them. "He's my dog—I just came out here to get him!"

The two men exchanged glances. "Your dog? Then where is his license?" one of them asked.

"Right here!" Sari said, then held up a dog collar with a shining silver dog tag on it. "I'm so sorry about this," she said again, and proceeded to slip the collar around Ratchet's neck. He grumbled something, but permitted her to do it. "Somehow he got away and I've been looking all over for him!"

"Well," one of the men said, "I guess that solves that. Just don't let him get away again, or we will take him to the pound next time."

With that, the dog-catchers walked away.

"Thanks," Ratchet muttered, and somehow managed to sound both annoyed and grateful at the same time.

"Better leave the collar on," Sari said. "Also, I have to put this on, too," she said, holding up a leash.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"Hey, there's a leash law!" Sari informed him. "I either have to pretend to be your owner and go with you, holding onto the leash, or they will come after you again!" She pointed in the direction the dog-catchers had gone.

Growling, Ratchet decided he didn't exactly have much choice. "Where'd you get this, anyway?" he muttered.

"I heard that you'd been going around town and that people were complaining about a big ugly dog on the loose," Sari said. "I figured it was you."

"Thanks a lot," Ratchet snipped.

"Hey I didn't call you big and ugly, other people did!" Sari retorted. "Anyway, I got a dog tag, put your name on it, and my cell phone number on it. Now, so long as I stay with you, you should be okay. Or if you get caught, they'll just call me, so long as you keep that collar on."

"Yeah well, thanks," Ratchet sighed, figuring he didn't have much choice in the matter. It was either cooperate, or have to fight off the humans to keep out of the dog pound.

"So, where are we going?" Sari asked.

"To be honest with you, I don't really know. I'm supposed to be searching for clues as to what happened to us, but I don't even know where to look, and I can't exactly drive myself around anymore."

"Maybe my dad can help!" Sari said, after a moment's thinking.

0o0o0o0o0o0

As Lockdown and BlackArachnia approached the edge of the city, they hesitated, unsure whether or not it was wise to emerge from the forest quite yet. They didn't want to be seen after all, especially since they were vulnerable in some ways, due to their… current conditions.

"We should wait until it gets dark," Lockdown said thoughtfully. "Less people out, and less chance of being seen."

BlackArachnia couldn't argue with that, so they both agreed.

Little did they know that they had a shadow following them, so to speak. A shadow that was all black and excellent at stealth. Someone who was good at keeping his presence concealed, until he was ready to be seen.


	6. Chapter 6

The sun had set, and the darkness of the nighttime was beginning to fall over the city. BlackArachnia and Lockdown, who were still hiding out in the forest near the edge of the city, had managed to get something to eat. BlackArachnia had spun a web, which she and her partner had managed to drive a wild deer into. The stag had got caught up in the web, getting tangled to the point where it suffocated.

Then BlackArachnia had drunk all of the blood out of the deer, draining the body completely dry. Afterwards, Lockdown was able to eat as much flesh as he pleased off of the carcass.

Now that both of them were comfortably full, BlackArachnia seemed rather eager to get going, to try and find clues as to what happened to them and how to return to normal.

"Hold on," Lockdown said, hesitating. He was looking around and sniffing the air.

"What?" BlackArachnia asked, rather impatiently. She just wanted to get going.

"I think we're being watched," Lockdown said. "I thought I sensed something earlier, but I thought it was just an animal. But no… I think it's something a bit more intelligent."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure yet. Wait here, I'm going to look around."

"Oh no you don't, I'm not simply going to wait around here while you go off and—"

"'Arachnia," Lockdown snipped, calling her by the nickname he'd given her, "just cool it. I'll be back in a flash."

Then, in a flash of movement that was very much like that of his old, robot self, Lockdown vanished from sight.

BlackArachnia growled, looking around and trying to figure out where he'd gone. Fine, she thought. I'll give him five cycles, but I'm not waiting forever. If he's not back by then, I'm going without him.

0o0o0o0o0o

Despite his massive size and incredible weight, Bulkhead managed to move through the water fairly quickly. Optimus had no real complaints, except for the fact that he was literally drenched from head to toe, and that the night air was getting chillier.

There were also a couple of times when Bulkhead entered deeper areas of the lake, when he had to compensate and thus resulted in falling deeper than he'd intended. During one of these instances, Optimus had ended up being dunked completely, getting water into his mouth and nose. Right now, even though Bulkhead's back was out of the water enough so that even Optimus's paws were out of the water, he still felt the annoying sensation of water up his nose.

Finally though, after the sun had set and the stars began to become visible in the sky, they reached dry land. Optimus couldn't be happier to be on Dinobot island, as he and Bulkhead arrived.

After leaping off of Bulkhead's back, Optimus felt completely relieved to feel his feet back on a firm, solid surface. He then took a moment to fluff his fur out and shake it off, like he'd seen a cat do on television once. The only problem was that that action caused him to stumble, nearly falling over. Apparently the ride on Bulkhead had given him sea-legs.

Bulkhead's heavy footsteps could be heard coming up behind him, only the giant turtle couldn't see where he was going too well in the dark. So as he lumbered forward, he ended up stepping on Optimus's tail, which caused the tiger to cut loose with a blood-curdling roar in response to the pain.

The roar echoed throughout the trees on the island, and would have unforeseen consequences, as both of them would soon find out.

0o0o0o0o0o

Bumblebee felt like he was starving to death, but he still had no idea what bees ate. But he felt like if he didn't get something to eat soon, he was going to die. He didn't know if he really would, that was simply how he felt.

Little did he know that the Dinobots were on the verge of finding him again, using their newfound animal senses to locate his position. Apparently the sensitive noses of Dinobots were able to track large, smelly bugs.

But just as they began to surround his position—and as Bumblebee was really beginning to tense—that's when they heard it. The sound of a loud, blood-curdling ROAR that send shivers down the spines of the Dinobots, and caused Bumblebee's wings to tremble and antennae to stand up straight.

"Me Grimlock not like loud noise!" the giant T-rex exclaimed, and somehow managed to look both fearsome and cowardly at the same time.

Snarl and Swoop simply growled and squawked, echoing their leader's displeasure at the terrible sound.

"Me Grimlock say forget bug! Me Grimlock think we should find what made noise and get destroy!"

With that, the Dinobots stomped off, headed in the direction of the noise, completely forgetting about Bumblebee.

Bumblebee, relieved to finally be left alone by the monsters, finally felt comfortable enough to crawl out of the bushes. And even though he was still weak from hunger, he began to fly, his wings buzzing shrilly as he rose above the ground.

Once he was up high enough, he managed to spot what the Dinobots were headed toward. It looked like Bulkhead, along with a tiger, were on the edge of the island.

Bumblebee stared. Who was the tiger? And why was it hanging out with Bulkhead? Curious, Bumblebee carefully headed in their direction.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Lockdown had to admit that the person who'd tailed himself and BlackArachnia for so long was good, quite good. But he was good too, plus he had his keen animal senses to rely on, which included an excellent sense of smell. Despite the fact that the prowler was trying to elude him, Lockdown always knew where he had been a mere second ago.

Finally, the scent stopped, but Lockdown could detect it going up the side of a tree. And so he looked up. "I know you're up there!" he barked. "And I think I know who you are… Prowl."

With that, a pair of glowing, sapphire eyes appeared from between two branches, peering through some thick leaves. "How did you know it was me?" Prowl called out from above.

Lockdown snorted. "Because no one else I know is that good," he replied. "Why don't you come on down from there, and we'll talk."

"What do you wish to discuss?" Prowl asked, making no move to come down.

"Let's face it. We're all in a sticky predicament right now, and we all want to go back to the way we were," Lockdown replied. "I think part of the reason you're following us is because you're curious what you're up to. Another reason is because you wonder if we might actually find something."

Now Prowl moved, lowering himself from the branches and using his claws to help himself down the tree, where he landed on the ground a few feet from Lockdown.

"Why don't we stop pussy-footing around, to borrow the phrase," Lockdown said with a smirk, "and team up? We could use another set of eyes, and another nose to help us out."

Prowl considered it for a moment. In truth he didn't have many options right now, and they might actually help him find something. Plus he'd been spotted, so the usefulness of his stealth was gone now.

"Very well," Prowl said with a slight nod. "Do you have any leads?"

"You could say that," Lockdown said slyly. "At least, I have a theory." Before Prowl could ask him to specify, the pit-bull turned and began to move away, leaving Prowl to follow.

"Come on, we'd better get a move on," Lockdown added. "Otherwise the spider-lady may well choose to leave us behind."

"What sort of leads do you have?" Prowl asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see. Let's just say I have a theory." Lockdown refused to say anything else on the subject.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Megatron, Lugnut and Blitzwing were back within the safety of their secret base, having each gotten something to eat. They had had to raid a few dumpsters and outdoor kiosks to find anything useful to eat, although Megatron had been satisfied with eating a few stray cats that had been out on the streets.

The Decepticons were glad to be back in their base though, because the humans had not responded too well to their presence.

"Now that we are refueled and back up to strength," Megatron told his minions, "we must try and find a way to reverse what has happened to us, by any means necessary. We cannot stay in this unacceptable format forever!"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Sari was depressed, and having a grumpy, tired and hungry Ratchet as her only companion was making things worse. Earlier Sari had actually made a slip of the tongue, saying that maybe her dad could help them, momentarily forgetting that Powell had control of her father's company and her dad was missing.

She honestly couldn't believe she could actually have forgotten about that. Then again, everything had turned completely up-side down and inside out in such a short amount of time, that she was surprised her sanity had remained intact at all.

Sari still had some money from the last time her dad had been able to give her an allowance, and she used some of it to buy herself some dinner and to buy Ratchet some dog food. Ratchet seemed to enjoy it, more or less, so perhaps he had adapted to his canine taste buds and stomach.

Once they were finished eating, in the middle of an alleyway, they both decided that there wasn't much else they could do but go back to the base, and hope that some of the others were there. After all, it wasn't like the two of them had made any progress whatsoever.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Bumblebee neared Bulkhead and the tiger, who were currently being ganged up on by the Dinobots. It seemed like the tiger was favoring its tail, as though it was a little sore.

Then, Bumblebee heard the tiger call out, apparently trying to reason with the Dinobots. He recognized its voice as none other than Prime, and decided that he needed to do something to try and help.

So the giant bee swooped in, landing on Grimlock's back, and stabbed his stinger into the large T-rex. Grimlock responded by roaring in agony, lurching himself upward and sending Bumblebee flying into a nearby tree trunk.

The last thing Bumblebee knew, before the world went black, was the sound of Prime and Bulkhead calling out to him.


	7. Chapter 7

Grimlock moaned in agony. He had been stabbed in the back by an enormous stinger, and bee-venom had gone into his systems. At first he'd felt burning hot agony and then it turned into a feeling of numb discomfort.

"Me Grimlock," he said, somewhat faintly, "bad…" With that, he collapsed on the ground with an enormous thud.

Optimus cast a glance over his shoulder toward the T-rex, although his main attention was on Bumblebee at the moment. "Oh no," the tiger said.

"What is it?" Bulkhead demanded, taking a few steps closer. Bumblebee was lying on the ground, not having moved since he'd hit the tree. The giant turtle squinted in the darkness, trying to see his little buddy better. From what he could make out, Bee's wings were damaged, although his exo-structure seemed mostly intact, although perhaps a bit dented in the area of the thorax.

"I can't really tell, because I don't know insect anatomy all that well," Optimus said, gently touching Bee's furry thorax, looking for signs of life and/or serious injury. "But I have been trying to remember some of the things I happened to see, when Prowl watched a nature documentary about insects once."

"Oh, I think I remember that," Bulkhead said with a slight groan. Heck, no one could possibly forget that. Prowl had practically hogged the television for the entire day, wanting to learn all he could about insects. And since there hadn't been much else to do, the others couldn't help but pick up on some bits and snatches about bugs, at least.

"If I remember correctly," Optimus said slowly, "once a bee loses its stinger… it dies shortly afterwards."

Bulkhead's jaw dropped. He stared down at his little buddy and gasped softly. "No!" he exclaimed, moving forward, and wished he had hands so he could hold onto his friend. "Bumblebee, wake up! You must wake up!"

A shrill screech sounded nearby, and Bulkhead and Optimus glanced up to see Swoop and Snarl looking agitated about something. They were no longer making any threatening moves, and it seemed they were being cautious, not wanting to be hurt themselves in any way.

"I… should check on Grimlock as well," Optimus said out loud.

"But what about Bumblebee?" Bulkhead snapped. "You just said he's dying!"

"I don't know for sure if he's dying, Bulkhead," Optimus tried to assure him, although he heard the doubt in his own voice. "Look I don't know what to do, or if there is anything we can do for him. Just… stay with him, okay? I'll be back in a nano-click."

With that, Optimus went to check on Grimlock, who was still laying face-down in the dirt.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"So, this is what has become of the almighty Lord Megatron, eh?"

Megatron, Lugnut and Blitzwing glanced upward, trying to see where that voice had come from. Megatron knew exactly who it was when the voice's owner released an all-too-familiar burst of laughter.

"Show yourself, Starscream!" Megatron ordered. He and his minions looked around, trying to see where the voice was coming from.

"Oh this would be just too sweet!" Starscream continued, his annoying voice echoing throughout the cave. "If only I could fire at you, and blast your little flesh-bag bodies into piles of broken bones and splattered meat!"

Megatron opened his mouth but then closed it, as a thought came to him.

"Megatron," Lugnut said, grunting through his nose—an irritating habit he'd picked up since becoming a warthog, "let me track him down."

"If he is still in robot form, he could pose a threat to us," the cool-headed Blitzwing personality said. Then his colors changed from blue and purple to red and orange, as the hot-headed personality took over, and spoke. "If only I still had my cannons, I would blast him into a million pieces!"

"Silence!" Megatron said, his eyes still searching for the elusive Starscream. "If he was going to attack, he would have done so already. And I believe that he is in the same predicament as us."

"How do you know?" the cool-headed Blitzwing personality asked.

"Do not question the word of Lord Megatron!" Lugnut scolded. "If he says it is so, then it is so!"

Unimpressed by the praise, Megatron answered Blitzwing's query without even looking at either of his minions. "Starscream's voice has been altered, just like each of ours has been when we changed into these new forms. I believe that our former comrade is now nothing more than an organic himself." Megatron scowled. "Show yourself, Starscream!"

"I have no intention of giving you the satisfaction of seeing me—WOAH!" Starscream's voice cut off with a yelp as he apparently lost his balance and began to fall from his perch above. However he managed to catch himself with his wings, and began flying around in circles above their heads.

Finally though, he apparently decided to come down and face his former comrades and former leader on the same level, because he came down and landed several feet from them.

"Starscream has been reduced to… a bat?" cool-headed Blitzwing said. Then the colors on his body changed to black and red, and the crazed Blitzwing personality said, "And I believe that is what humans call a 'flying fox bat'!" He cracked up with laughter.

"Flying fox, eh?" Starscream said, glancing down at himself as he spread his wings. "Hmmm, I think I like that."

"Why are you here, Starscream?" Megatron spat. He looked like he was fully ready to chomp the flying fox in a single bite and swallow him, but he seemed curious enough to hear Starscream's answer, at least.

"Perhaps I simply wanted to see what my 'mighty' comrades were up to," Starscream smirked. "Especially in such a… interesting predicament."

"You shall now see just how 'mighty' I am," Megatron said, and moved forward with blinding speed, his mouth opening wide and revealing a lot of razor-sharp teeth.

Starscream yelped and flew away, just before the crocodile's jaws could snap him up. Megatron snarled as his eyes followed the flying fox's movements, although he was unable to do anything because he was no longer able to fly.

Professor Sumdac had been sitting silent within his cage this entire time, unsure what to think or what to do, although he refrained from speaking. Perhaps now that Megatron was a crocodile, part of him feared being eaten if his "master" got hungry or angry enough.

Right now, Megatron was at least rather annoyed, although he seemed to have forgotten entirely about his human "pet" for the moment. Megatron's full attention was on Starscream.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Grimlock still had the large stinger stuck in his back, as Optimus soon discovered. The tiger knew that it might have been leaking bee-venom into the wound, and that he needed to get it out.

It was awkward to do so, especially with paws, but Optimus managed to get his paws in on either side of the stinger, then yanked it out with the aid of his claws.

Grimlock flinched and roared a bit in discomfort, then seemed to settle down a little. But he was obviously still feeling the effects of the venom and he was in pain.

Swoop and Snarl were still watching cautiously, although neither of them made any moves. "He'll be okay," Optimus told them gently, and hoped that it was true. "Keep an eye on him… make sure he's okay," he added to them. The two Dinobots then began to approach their leader as Optimus himself returned to his own comrades.

"Bee still isn't moving," Bulkhead said as his leader approached.

Optimus sighed. "Well, I think we should risk moving him," he said. "I think we should take him to the ship, and see if we can contact the base. Hopefully someone might be there, although it wouldn't surprise me if everyone is still out searching." He sighed again. "I am really starting to miss our commlinks."

"Me too, Boss-bot. Me too."

Taking great care, Optimus gently moved Bumblebee on the back of Bulkhead's massive shell, and the tiger began to lead the way through the trees, toward the ship.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Lockdown lead the way through dark streets, where there was little or no activity, and he seemed to have a specific idea of where he was going. BlackArachnia had no idea whatsoever where they were going, although part of her wondered if Prowl had some sort of idea. However, neither of them were saying a word.

So she simply had to be silent and follow. Although she did hope that they wouldn't have to spend the rest of the night wandering aimlessly.

Little did they know that, when the three of them passed by a dumpster, the lid lifted up and a pair of yellow eyes peered out a them, curious and intrigued by their presence. The owner of the yellow eyes silently hopped out of the dumpster and began to follow along behind them.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Ratchet did his best to check over his equipment in the medical bay, although it was difficult since he no longer had hands, and he was a bit smaller than he had been when he was a robot.

He was more or less glad to be back at the Autobot base, and he had demanded that Sari take off both the leash and the collar since they weren't outside any longer. In some ways, part of him felt a little bad for being so grumpy with the girl, but after the day he'd had, one couldn't exactly expect him to be cheerful.

The elderly canine wasn't even entirely sure why he was bothering to check over his equipment, since it was only really useful on Autobots, and he and his comrades were no longer bots. But it did give him something to do, especially since he hadn't found out any useful information about their current predicament. I helped ward off the feeling of uselessness, he supposed… at least so long as he didn't think about it too hard.

"Ratchet?"

Ratchet's head turned to see Sari standing just in the doorway of the medical bay, clutching her pillow.

"Yeah?" Ratchet said.

"Do you think everything's going to be okay?" she asked. There was something about the way she looked, and the way she said that, that made Ratchet stop and look at her fully. Normally she was the one who was always full of encouragement, especially during the moments when Bulkhead felt down on his luck and useless. Sari was the one who could always put a smile on Optimus's face, and who helped keep Bumblebee out of trouble (or sometimes helped him get into trouble, for that matter) but right now… she looked so vulnerable.

She needs some cheering up, Ratchet thought with a frown. She'd lost her home, her dad's company, her father was missing, and now all of her friends had been turned into organics.

"Everything will be fine," Ratchet said with a smile. "We're going to get ourselves back to normal as soon as possible." He spoke with an almost cheerful confidence that he definitely didn't feel, but he had to put up the front for the sake of the girl.

Sari dashed forward and threw her arms around the shaggy canine's neck, hugging him tightly. Ratchet permitted the hug, knowing she needed it.

"I think we should both stay inside the base for the rest of the night," he told her. "We can begin searching again in the morning."

"Thanks, Ratchet," Sari answered tiredly. From the looks of her, she looked almost completely exhausted.

"No problem. Now go and get some sleep."

"I don't want to sleep by myself," Sari said. Somehow, right now, she looked even younger than she really was, and she sounded almost… frightened.

"Come with me," Ratchet said, somewhat wearily. "You can sleep in my room."

Sari beamed and let out a small cheerful noise as she followed him to his room. Once inside, Ratchet simply lay down on the floor and allowed her to curl up beside him. Then, in sort of a Grandfatherly fashion, he draped one of his front legs over her, gently holding her close and keeping her warm.

When the girl began to snore softly against his furry side, Ratchet wasn't sure whether he felt more like her pet or her guardian at the moment. Then again, wasn't a canine usually considered both, especially for a child?


	8. Chapter 8

Prowl was the first person to detect that they were being followed. BlackArachnia was the first person to notice that the Black Panther had stopped walking. Lockdown, who had been focused on where he was going and following his nose somewhat, only stopped to glance behind himself when he no longer heard his companions' footsteps following.

"We are being followed," Prowl said softly.

"By who?" BlackArachnia asked, already turning her body on her thin, eight legs to look behind her.

All three of them just barely managed to catch sight of a small streak ducking behind a nearby trash can. The only real details they'd managed to make out were that it was small, and it had glowing yellow eyes.

"Let me check it out," Prowl said, and moved forward before the others could say a word.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ratchet had just barely managed to fall asleep when something woke him up. It wasn't a sound, nor was it anything else that normal, organic senses could pick up on. It was like a voice inside his head, and one that he'd been all-too-familiar with for a very long time.

It was a voice that he never thought he would hear again.

"Omega?" Ratchet whispered. He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. The link that he'd shared with the giant, sleeping Autobot still remained even after all these years.

Ratchet? Came a tentative reply.

Omega! Ratchet thought back, surprised and happy. Omega, are you alright? I thought you were still in stasis!

Ratchet… I just woke up. I don't know where I am. This doesn't look like Cybertron…

Don't worry, everything is okay, Ratchet said, standing up. He'd momentarily forgotten about Sari, although she was in a deep slumber so his movements didn't disturb her much. Omega, something strange has happened to me, so you might not recognize me if you see me.

Ratchet, something strange has happened to me too, came Omega's reply. He seemed rather frightened. My body is different, and I feel different.

Ratchet blinked, then frowned. Then an idea came to him, and he gasped slightly. Uh oh, he thought. Omega… it may be possible you've been turned into an organic too!

An organic?

Yes. Listen… stay where you are, and try to stay calm. I'll try to get there as soon as I can. With that, Ratchet glanced down at Sari, suddenly remembering the girl.

He sighed. She still seemed so tired, but he couldn't just leave her here, all alone in the base. Plus he did need to be on a leash, just so no one would complain and send the dog catchers after him again. Growling under his breath at the thought, he gently tried to wake the girl.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Starscream had managed to escape the cave, headed for who knew where.

Frankly, that suited Megatron fine, especially since it allowed him and his minions to get back to work.

Approaching the cell where Professor Sumdac was being kept, Megatron spoke in a quiet, deadly tone, "Listen to me, human. I am going to let you out of the cage, so that you may assist us in reversing whatever has happened to us. But if you try anything foolish, I will eat you without hesitation. Is that understood?"

Sumdac gulped. "Y-yes, Lord Megatron." The Professor had learned very early on that it was best to refer to the Decepticon leader by his formal title, or risk facing his wrath.

"Very good," Megatron said, and used the tip of his long, scaly tail to shut off the force-field, releasing the processor from his prison.

0o0o0o0o0o

Optimus continued to lead the way through the forest, with Bulkhead trailing along behind him. The giant turtle continued to carry Bumblebee's unconscious form on his back, not even noticing his little buddy's weight since he had plenty of mass of his own. But Bulkhead's feet were starting to get tired. He complained about it a few times, but nevertheless he pressed onward, wanting nothing more than to help his friend.

However, when they arrived at the site where their ship had been embedded into the rock face on the side of a cliff, they found that the ship was nowhere to be seen.

Optimus stared up at the sight, as if trying to convince himself that his eyes were playing tricks on him. But he finally had to accept it—the ship was missing.

"What the slag?" Bulkhead said out loud.

Growling, Optimus shook his head in frustration, glancing over at Bumblebee. "As if things couldn't get any worse, now someone has stolen our ship!" he said.

Both of them exchanged glances. What were they going to do now?

0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl slowly and cautiously approached the garbage can, and then carefully peered behind it. That was when he saw what it was—a raccoon, with bright, glowing eyes.

"Who are you?" Prowl asked it, deducing that it wasn't an ordinary animal, considering the fact that it was following them.

"I am Wreck-Gar!" came the answer in a high-pitched, somewhat annoying voice.

"Why are you following us?"

"I am Wreck-Gar! And I am following you because… because I want to see where you are going!"

Prowl relaxed slightly, seeing that this plainly wasn't a threat. He knew all about Wreck-Gar from the encounter that Ratchet, Sari and Bumblebee had had with him. "I thought you had been destroyed," he commented.

"Destroyed?" Wreck-Gar said, glancing down at himself.

"Obviously you are not," Prowl added.

"Yes, I am not destroyed!"

"Well," Prowl shrugged, "you are free to join us… if you wish." He cast a glance toward BlackArachnia and Lockdown. "If there are no objections, that is."

Lockdown shrugged indifferently. "I don't care at this point, so long as he doesn't slow us down."

"Let's just get going," BlackArachnia growled impatiently. "We don't have time to stand around talking to disgusting little furry pipsqueaks."

"I am Wreck-Gar, I am a Hero!" the little raccoon wanted to remind everyone, his simple mind easily forgetting that they'd never heard him say he was a hero before.

Lockdown turned and started off again, with BlackArachnia following right behind him. Wreck-Gar hopped up onto Prowl's back, clinging to the fur on his shoulders. The Black Panther shook his head slightly, but otherwise seemed nonplussed as he permitted the raccoon to ride on his back.

Little did the foursome know that yet another "shadow" was trailing along behind them, someone that none of them had seen yet. This time, it was someone who was up in the trees, following in a manner that could be completely unseen until the individual wanted to be seen. Someone who was smaller than the rest, at least in his current form, and could easily leap from branch to branch.

0o0o0o0o0

Optimus and Bulkhead were just beginning to try and weigh their options, when the Autobot leader began to feel a very odd sensation in his stomach. He didn't know what was wrong at first, but it almost felt like he was in pain—no, pain was too strong of a word. But it was definitely uncomfortable.

Not only that but it began to feel like something was moving, or that something wanted to move. The next thing he knew, his entire body was shaking in rhythm to several gut-wrenching, hacking noises, which seemed to emanate from somewhere deep inside his body.

The next thing he knew, he felt something moving through him, up to his mouth, and it was quite an unpleasant sensation at that. Plus it tasted terrible. He ended up spitting the bilge out of his mouth, along with something that was almost a bit too large for him to send out of his throat, but he was able to. It had hurt coming up out of his stomach, too.

"Prime, are you alright?" Bulkhead asked, concerned. "Ew… I hope you don't have to do that again."

Optimus breathed deeply, in and out and then cleared his throat. "I think so," he rasped. "I think I had what humans would call an upset stomach."

"Look at what you spit out," Bulkhead said, pointing at the ground.

When he looked, Optimus gasped. "It's the Allspark fragment!" he exclaimed. The strange thing was, it seemed to have changed its color. Right now, it was a soft blue color, glowing softly on the ground and twinkling in the starlight.

"You mean, the one that changed you into a tiger when you swallowed it?" Bulkhead asked.

"Yes," Optimus said, and carefully picked it up with his paw. "And maybe, just maybe… we might be able to use it to help Bumblebee!"

"How?" Bulkhead said, sounding hopeful and skeptical at the same time. "Do we get him to swallow it, too?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Optimus admitted. "But we have to try and do something, or I don't think he's going to stay online much longer."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Grimlock was just beginning to come to his senses, although his back still felt somewhere between pained and numb. He moaned, and Snarl came over to offer assistance to get him back to his feet.

"Me Grimlock not like giant yellow bug," the giant T-rex groaned. "But me Grimlock thinks he will leave yellow bug alone from now on."

Swoop and Snarl simply nodded in agreement.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Upon examining the equipment that had unfortunately turned all of the bots into organics, Professor Sumdac made a disappointing discovery—the machine had burned itself out after its first and only use, but the Allspark fragments were still in good shape.

However, it was theoretically possibly to reverse the process, perhaps, if the machinery could be rebuilt from scratch.

This was not exactly good news, of course, since Megatron and his minions were not exactly in the best the shape to build anything, or to get things they needed.

But nevertheless… they all knew that they would have to try. It was either that or be stuck with their cursed organic modes for the rest of their lives.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Starscream roamed freely throughout the skies above Detroit, releasing high-pitched shrieks and squeaks as he did so. In many ways he was simply enjoying a bit of freedom, although he was also trying to work on some feelings of helplessness and frustration.

If only he was still in his robot mode, he could easily defeat Megatron now. It would probably only take a single shot to take him out in his current state. But alas, it seemed as though he would always be in a poor position to obtain that single goal.

If only he'd managed to get something more powerful than a flying fox bat for a body… then he might have been able to stand a chance.

He just wondered what he was going to do now. Surely there was some way he could return to normal…


	9. Chapter 9

"You're not, uh, gonna put that down Bumblebee's throat, are you?" Bulkhead asked, eyes twitching, as he watched his friend and leader turn the Allspark over in his furry tiger paws.

"I'm not sure what to do," Optimus said thoughtfully. "First, let's get Bumblebee off your back and down onto the ground."

Bulkhead lowered himself as close to the ground as he could, allowing Optimus to gently take the injured Bumblebee off his back.

Once they had their little yellow friend on the ground, Optimus examined Bee's head more closely, specifically his face and mouth. "Hmmm," Optimus frowned. "Well I don't think we can use the Allspark fragment in the way that I did."

"Why not?" Bulkhead asked.

"Because Bumblebee's mouth parts work differently than that of a mammalian organic," Optimus said slowly. "He's an insect, and so I don't think he can swallow the same way as I can."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm not sure," Optimus said. "But I know I'm not just going to stand by and watch him go offline. Hmm, maybe…"

An idea forming, the tiger slowly and carefully lifted the Allspark fragment with both of his paws and placed it on his thorax, where one of the worst injuries was located.

With that, the Allspark fragment began to glow brightly, completely engulfing the entire form of the large bee, illuminating him in a bright white and blue aura. It got so bright that Optimus had to turn away and cover his eyes. Bulkhead squeezed his own eyes shut, unable to lift his front feet enough to cover them, and simply withdrew into his gigantic shell.

After nearly a full cycle passed, the light dimmed down and then faded completely. Then Bulkhead tentatively poked his head out of his shell, blinking. Optimus uncovered his eyes, and then they both saw what had happened to Bee.

0o0o0o0o0

"Where are going, exactly?" BlackArachnia asked. They had been wandering through the streets for quite some time, and she was tired of the fact that Lockdown wasn't saying a word.

"Just following a hunch," Lockdown replied cryptically.

Growling, the she-spider then snapped, "Look, either you tell us where we are going or—"

"Or what?" the pit-bull said, turning to glance at the giant spider over his shoulder. He then made a "tsk-tsk" noise. "If you choose to drink all my blood, you will never find out where we're going."

"Lockdown, why won't you tell us where we are going?" Prowl asked, moving carefully. Wreck-Gar had apparently grown tired and fallen asleep on his back, his little raccoon hands still clutching to Prowl's furry skin.

"Let's just say I don't have all the information myself," Lockdown replied. "I did a business deal a few weeks ago, and I just happened to see some sort of experiment going on in my client's office."

"And just who is this client of yours?" BlackArachnia demanded.

"It would be against professional courtesy to reveal who it was," Lockdown answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the spider snipped.

Prowl spoke up, "It means that he was paid to hold his silence." The panther cocked his head to one side, staring at Lockdown. "However, since you are apparently leading us to him, we are going to find out soon enough anyway."

"True," Lockdown said, "and that is also why I've been having second thoughts."

Prowl blinked. "About what?"

"About whether or not to allow you to continue with us. See, if I lead you to my client's hideout, you'll know where it is, and I will lose the confidence of my best customer," Lockdown explained. "So on the one hand, we might be able to use your help, Prowl, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to lose my client's trust."

"Even at the expense of returning to normal?" Prowl said.

BlackArachnia then spoke up, "Look, I do not care about your clients or whether Prowl comes along or not! I just want to return to normal—preferably, being able to be full-bot again. If I could be made into a full organic, then I should be able to become full-bot again if this process can be reversed!"

As the trio continued to bicker, Wreck-Gar stirred slightly and began to peer around. He started to listen in on the discussion, but then both his eyes and his mind began to wander as he glanced upward, noticing a small presence peering down from the tree above.

Having noticed that it had been spotted, the little creature withdrew into the higher branches, where it could stay out of sight but still be able to watch.

Finally, Lockdown and Prowl made an agreement, although it was a rather reluctant one. Lockdown would lead the way to his client's hideout, and then once they got there, Lockdown himself would take off. And BlackArachnia, Wreck-Gar and Prowl were to never say a word that Lockdown had rendered them any assistance at all.

So with that, the foursome continued onward. Wreck-Gar, feeling soothed by the motion of riding on Prowl's back, quickly forgot about whatever he'd seen in the tree and promptly dozed off again.

The mysterious "shadow" above their heads continued to follow, discreetly.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Ratchet felt bad in many ways, dragging Sari out into the streets in the middle of the night, especially considering how tired she was. But he didn't want to risk leaving her home alone, and this situation with Omega simply could not be ignored.

She was performing her end of the sham, holding onto the end of the leash. Ratchet had disliked the fact that he had to wear that stupid collar again, but he had no choice. He also wanted to hurry toward Omega's position, able to sense his giant friend through their mind link, but he had no choice but to move slowly for Sari's sake.

After some time of wandering around like this, Ratchet finally determined that it was time to take a risk, and just hope that no one would see this or think something fishy was going on. So he told the girl to get onto his back, and hang on tight, because he was going to run the rest of the way.

"Just hang onto my neck," Ratchet told Sari as he made sure she was seated properly on his back. "And keep a good grip on that leash; I don't want to trip over it."

Sari wrapped the end of the leash around her arm, then leaned forward and clung tightly to Ratchet, burying her face into his fur. She couldn't go back to sleep, because she needed to hang on, but she knew she could rest a little, at least.

Then Ratchet took off, rather suddenly, and Sari let out a startled yelp. She hung on though, and found that she wouldn't be able to rest fully until their journey was over. She had to focus on hanging on, so she wouldn't fall off.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Upon examining Bumblebee, Optimus found that all of his wounds had been healed—in fact, even his abdominal region had been repaired, and he now had a new stinger.

We'll just have to make sure he doesn't use his stinger, so we don't get a repeat of this incident, Optimus thought to himself, then frowned down at his friend. Why wasn't Bumblebee waking up?

Bulkhead was staring down at his yellow buddy, and voiced Optimus's thought out loud. "Why isn't he waking up? He looks okay."

Both of them spent several cycle trying to talk to him, attempting to get him to respond.

"Why isn't he waking up?" Bulkhead finally asked, his voice full of concern.

"I'm not sure," Optimus replied, "but I have a theory. It's possible that the Allspark fragment's power was able to heal his body, but in his weakened state, it may have overwhelmed his mind."

"Are you saying he's temporarily offline?"

"In human terms, I'd say he's unconscious," Optimus replied.


	10. Chapter 10

"Boss-bot…" Bulkhead moaned wearily, "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

Optimus sighed. Bumblebee had still not woken up yet, and the Autobot leader had decided that the best course of action was to simply go back to base, especially since Optimus himself was no longer confined to the water. Besides, he wanted to take Bee to a safe place, away from the island, and away from the Dinobots—even though the trio of dinosaurs seemed content to leave them alone, after that incident where Grimlock got stung in the back.

Right now Bulkhead was out in the middle of Lake Eerie, with Optimus and Bumblebee on his back. Optimus was concentrating on trying to keep Bumblebee from falling off, and to keep his head above water at all times. And since it was nighttime, and Bulkhead was getting tired, the giant turtle seemed to be finding it difficult to stay high enough above the water.

"I know, Bulkhead," Optimus said. "But we've got to make it, we've just got to. We don't have anywhere else to go, since our ship is gone."

"Okay, but I think my fuel tank is getting low," Bulkhead moaned.

Optimus sighed, then realized that he felt pretty hungry himself. "Alright… let's head to the shore," he said. "We'll try and get something to eat, then get some rest. We'll pick up our journey in the morning."

"Thanks, Prime," Bulkhead said gratefully, and immediately began to head for the nearest shoreline.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The mysterious "shadow" continued to follow the foursome on the ground. At times he had to scurry along the ground, since there weren't all that many trees in Detroit, except in the park areas or along some of the streets.

He knew roughly who they all were, because he'd been observing the situation on Earth for quite some time. And the fact was, he was long overdue to report back to his superiors on Cybertron, simply because he couldn't contact them at all, not in his current organic form.

So for the time being, he had to be content with continuing to observe the situation at hand. It seemed that the Autobot cyber ninja, known as Prowl, had been changed into a cat of some sort. The black-and-white pit-bull was a bounty hunter, whom the mysterious watcher was familiar with, because the "shadow" was an intelligence officer. It was the watcher's job to know information about bots, as well as situations in general.

The "shadow" also knew something about the giant spider… he didn't know much about her origins, simply that she was known to have been working with Megatron.

However, the "shadow" knew next to nothing about who the raccoon was, simply that the individual had previously been a bot, just like the rest of the lot.

The "shadow" had come to Earth some time ago, in order to investigate some odd sensor readings that been detected—specifically, possible Autobot activity. In truth, bots were still searching for Optimus Prime and his missing crew, especially considering they had the Allspark with them. And this was the first possible finding they'd had.

So this specific individual, who had unfortunately been turned into a squirrel, was now simply trying to figure out what was going on, and how to change back to normal, when he should have been reporting his findings to the Elite Guard. As far as he was concerned, he had enough data now to warrant a visit from Ultra Magnus himself, since he had found Optimus and his crew, and had information that suggested the Allspark was here on the planet, or at least it had been at one time.

The squirrel continued to watch as the foursome continued onward, and finally came to the edge of a steep drop—what appeared to be a cliff. He could barely make out Lockdown giving some final directions to Prowl and the others, and then the pit-bull simply turned around and took off.

With that, BlackArachnia began to spin some of her webbing, creating an organic "rope" in order to permit herself to carefully move down to the ground below. Prowl, who still had the raccoon clinging to his back, followed the giant spider down along the webbing, although he had some difficulty because his paws weren't exactly designed to be like hands, not to mention the webbing was very sticky.

The squirrel waited until the trio had descended, then began to follow—only to be grabbed rather roughly from behind, by the scruff of the neck.

Squeaking shrilly, it took the squirrel a full two seconds to notice that none other than Lockdown had grabbed him.

"You're not an ordinary animal, fuzzball," Lockdown said, after putting the squirrel down. The pit-bull kept his front paw on its tail, so that it couldn't run away. "Who are you, and why were you following us?"

"First of all," the squirrel spoke, and as he proceeded to speak, his words came out in a natural rush, as if he was used to speaking fast, "the name's not 'Fuzzball'. As a matter of that, I have never heard of a bot named Fuzzball, so I can only conclude you came up with it in a reference to my current organic state, which while accurate lacks a certain creativity."

Lockdown blinked, trying to make sense of what he'd just heard. The words had been thrown at him so quickly. And then, just as he was beginning to make sense of it, the squirrel continued.

"More to the point, the name's Blur. I am here under orders, to observe the situation since Autobots were detected on this planet. I was to report back to my superiors but unfortunate circumstances have thus prevented me from proceeding with my duty. Got all that?"

"Yes… I believe so," Lockdown said slowly. "Well," he added after a moment, lifting his foot to release his captive, "I've never heard of you, and I certainly know there's no bounties on you. On top of that, I could care less who you are or what you are, just so long as you keep your mouth shut that you saw me here."

"I never saw you here at all!" Blur promised, with a slight bow of his head.

"Good, now get out of here," Lockdown growled, and began to move away. He wasn't going to go too far, because he still did want to be in the area in case things went awry. In many ways, he didn't trust Prowl or those other two glitches to get the job done, although he hoped they would. If nothing else, he hoped that they would find out some useful information.

The squirrel stared after him for a moment, as though trying to make sure he was really leaving, then made haste to follow Prowl and the others.

0o0o0o0o0o0

It took some time, plus a bit of hitch-hiking so to speak, (specifically, sneaking into the back of a pickup truck and riding part of the way) but Ratchet and Sari finally managed to get to the area where Omega Supreme was waiting.

Sari was dog tired—although she didn't phrase it like that out loud, at least not anymore, because Ratchet had given her a grumpy growl the one time she did.

She'd also been a bit surprised to learn that apparently the Autobot ship was alive, just in a modified stasis lock, and apparently turning organic had somehow brought him back to full operating status, so to speak. But she was just too sleepy to really think about it much or offer much comment. She had mostly used what little energy she had just hanging onto Ratchet when she needed too, although thankfully she'd been able to get a little sleep as they'd ridden in the back of the pickup truck.

Finally though, they arrived at the edge of Lake Eerie, right on the edge of the city, where Omega Supreme was waiting. Only he looked nothing like a ship, but a large, brown-and-gray dragon.

"Omega, it's me!" Ratchet called out as he approached the dragon, well aware that Sari had dozed off on his back. He simply had to move carefully as not to let her fall off, that was all.

"Ratchet?" came the deep voice from above. The large dragon looked something like the cross-between of a T-rex and a brontosaurus, with a pair of enormous, bat-like wings. He seemed able to stand upright on his hind legs, but right now he seemed content to stay down on all fours. "What has happened to me?"

"You've been turned into an organic," Ratchet answered.

Omega's giant blue dragon eyes blinked. "What has happened to you, Ratchet?"

"I have been turned into an organic, too," the canine replied. "Omega, listen to me, everything is going to be okay. We just have to stay calm, and try to find out what happened."

"Where are we?"

"We're on a planet called Earth, far away from Cybertron. You could say we got a little lost, and ended up crashing here."

"What about the war? Did we…?"

"We won, old friend," Ratchet assured him with a smile. "Thanks to you."

"I don't know if I can go on like this," Omega nearly moaned, looking down at himself with uncertainty.

"Don't worry, I am here with you. Together, we'll figure out what to do," Ratchet said.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"This must be Megatron's hideout," Prowl determined as he and BlackArachnia entered. Wreck-Gar was still sound asleep, so Prowl had decided the best thing to do was to leave the little raccoon outside, in the bushes, where hopefully he would remain safer.

"What makes you say that?" BlackArachnia asked, her eight spider-legs clicking on the stony ground as she walked.

Prowl's paws, on the other hand, made no noise as he moved. "Because I have determined that Lockdown's 'best client', as he put it, is probably Megatron. He did say once that Decepticons pay better than the Elite Guard, and it would make sense that he wouldn't want to lose the confidence of Megatron, someone who could give him plenty of upgrades."

"Well then, if he's behind this, we'll have to be extremely careful," BlackArachnia commented. "Though of course, if he's been changed into an organic too, this might make things a whole lot easier."


	11. Chapter 11

Ratchet had deduced that a giant dragon would most likely call a lot of unwanted attention to themselves, so he determined the best course of action would be to go back to Dinobot Island. After all, if a giant canine walking about the streets was enough to draw too much attention… the old medic didn't even want to think about how much havoc a huge dragon would cause.

So he gently helped Sari up onto Omega's back, holding onto her with his paws as she drifted off to sleep. Poor thing, she was so sleepy she couldn't even keep awake while she was being moved anymore.

She's so young to be going through something like this, Ratchet thought as he looked at her. She looked so peaceful and angelic while she slept. And she's been through so much already.

However, she would be fine while she slept. Ratchet's main concern at the moment was Omega himself. The giant brown-and-gray dragon was still looking around uncertainly, but seemed calmer now that Ratchet himself was there with him.

"Omega, how did you get out of that rock face?" the old wolf asked.

"I'm not sure," Omega replied. His voice was deep, and it seemed to vibrate the very air around them. "I woke up, and my head was stuck. I think I must have pulled myself out, because the next thing I knew, I was falling."

"Well you're going to be just fine now," Ratchet told him, freeing one paw from holding Sari long enough to pat one of Omega's thick, leathery shoulders. "Let's just go back the way you came, and then we can talk more."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Blur followed silently behind the giant spider and the black panther as they went deeper and deeper into the cave. The little squirrel refused to make himself known, simply because he'd been ordered to keep a low profile. If he alerted them to his presence, part of his purpose there would be defeated, since he was supposed to keep a discreet eye on things.

In many ways he wasn't sure what he could do, if anything at all. If he were still in his robot form he would be much more useful. As a squirrel, he was rather limited. However it was his job to keep an eye on things and gather intelligence, so that was exactly what he was doing.

0o0o0o0o0

Bumblebee groaned rather loudly and turned over. Optimus and Bulkhead immediately snapped to attention.

"Bumblebee!" Bulkhead exclaimed, and the ground shook as his massive feet pounded against the ground, eager to get near his little buddy. "You're awake!"

"Ugh," Bee groaned, placing a claw against his head. "I feel like I was hit by a train."

"Actually you hit a tree," Optimus told him, walking over and sitting down at his side. "Do you feel okay?"

"No."

"I mean, do you feel like you're going to be alright, at least?"

"I guess. I just won't be happy about it for a while."

Optimus smiled. "Well, we're happy," he said.

Bulkhead beamed. "Yeah, good to have you back, little buddy," the giant green turtle said. "If only I was in my regular mode, I would pick you up and hug you!"

"I'm glad you can't, then," Bee quipped, a brief look of annoyed embarrassment crossing his insect features at the idea.

0o0o0o0o0o0

With the aide of Professor Sumdac, some progress was being made to adjust the machinery that could hopefully change everyone back to their robotic forms. Blitzwing and Lugnut had also managed to gather some much-needed parts and components.

Where they got those parts, and how they managed to acquire them, Megatron did not know. Nor did he care at all; he was simply pleased that they seemed to be making some progress.

"How soon until we are able to make a test of this mechanism?" Megatron finally asked.

"Soon," Processor Sumdac answered, "hopefully." His voice sounded fairly confident, although it was edged with a touch of hesitation and fear. He was afraid of Megatron, even though the Decepticon leader was no longer a giant, menacing robot. In truth, Megatron could still harm him if he chose to.

"As soon as you are finished, I will select a 'volunteer' to test how it works," Megatron said, eyeing his two minions out of the corner of his vision.

"Master, allow me to test it!" Lugnut exclaimed, his snout grunting in excitement. He was practically groveling. "I will see if it works, Lord Megatron!"

Megatron chuckled ever so slightly, especially as Blitzwing took a couple of steps back. "Lugnut may have this honor if he wishes," the chameleon's cool personality said.

"Very well," Megatron said with a smirk. If Lugnut truly wanted to test the machine out first, let him. If something went wrong, at least Megatron himself would be fine.

"Okay," Sumdac said, and cleared his throat. "I just need to cross a couple of wires, and…" He trailed off as he held up a tool to do something. Megatron couldn't quite see what he was doing from where he stood, but he was fairly confident that Sumdac was doing his very best.

Besides, if it did turn out that Sumdac was attempting to sabotage the machine… Megatron figured he could always eat the human. It would save him from having to go out and hunt for a dog or something.

"There!" Sumdac exclaimed, wiping some sweat off his forehead. He then took a few steps back from the circuitry, then moved toward the control console. "I think I have hooked everything up correctly. But whether or not this will make remains to be seen."

"Very well," Megatron replied with a nod of his snout. "Lugnut shall test it now."

"With honor, my glorious leader!" the ugly warthog gushed, then proceeded to step forward. "What must I do, puny human?"

"Come over here and stand on that platform," Sumdac said, gesturing to a glass-covered circle on the floor that had been placed atop the focal point of the mechanism. "Then I will aim the laser of the device at you, and hopefully it will restore you to normal."

"Wait a moment, laser?" Blitzwing's icy personality chimed in. "What do you mean, laser?"

"Don't worry, it is not a harmful one," Sumdac told him quickly. "It is merely a dot of light, meant for directing and aiming the machine's energy so that it won't miss."

"Proceed," Megatron ordered sternly. He was impatient to get his original body back, and this idle chatter was wearing on his nerves. He simply wanted to get on with the experiment and see if it worked.

Sumdac wiped some sweat from his brow, then he turned to continue working at the machine.

"Proceed with what, exactly?" a male voice demanded from the darkness.

Everyone's heads turned in unison, just in time to see two new figures stepping forward. One of them was a black panther, the other a gigantic spider.

"Well now, I take it that you two must be two of the Autobots," Megatron exclaimed, narrowing his eyes in a way that only a crocodile could. "Because I am unaware of any other Decepticons on this planet, and the only animals that speak are humans."

"I am not an Autobot," the spider hissed. "I simply wish to return to normal."

"Ah, I recognize your voice," Megatron said. "BlackArachnia, is it not?"

"So now the accursed femme has become fully organic!" Blitzwing's hothead voice sounded off. His chameleon form had turned bright red in response to his mood/personality change.

Then his color suddenly changed to black with yellow and pink polka-dots when his random voice suddenly sang out, "Now I can truthfully sing, 'The itsy-bitsy spider went up the oil spout, down came the slush and flushed the organic out, out came the spider through the nasty oil spo-ut, then the itsy bitsy spider died of lead poison-ing!"

A shrill hiss escaped BlackArachnia's mouth and in the next instant, Blitzwing released a yelp of pain and surprised as the angered femme stamped down on him. She had claws on the ends of her spider-legs, and they were surprisingly strong and powerful. "Keep it up, reptile," she snarled, "and I'll drink your blood for dinner and then leave your empty skin outside in the sun, let it tan, and make what's left of you into a suitcase!"

"Oooo! Femmes are hot when they're feisty! HAHAHAHA!"

BlackArachnia slugged him over the head, and then he was silent. And completely unconscious.

"Enough!" Megatron roared. Now that he once again had everyone's attention, he spoke again. "It seems that we have unwelcome visitors here."

"And what do you plan to do about it?" Prowl asked. "You do not have weapons, and I doubt any of you would be a match for BlackArachnia and I."

"Probably not," Megatron found himself admitting. Blitzwing was now unconscious, and he wasn't very useful in his chameleon form anyway. Megatron himself was a powerful animal… but it wasn't very powerful on land. Lugnut was probably more able-bodied, but a lone warthog couldn't do very well against a giant spider and a powerfully built black panther.

"It would seem we're at an impasse," the Decepticon leader finally stated, glancing around the cave.

"Is that Professor Sumdac?" Prowl asked suddenly, pointing a paw in the direction of the human standing behind a console.

"Yes indeed it is," Megatron purred, taking a moment to glance at the human. "He has been a most useful pet to me."

"Has he been working under you because you've forced him to, or is he working with you because he chose to?" Prowl demanded to know. He did not trust Sumdac very well, especially at this point. But he still needed to know in order to determine that fact, for Sari's sake if nothing else.

"Oh, of course I forced him to work for me," Megatron laughed. "He is my very talented pet, and he performs quite well for me."

"How ironic," Prowl murmured, "considering that a crocodile has a human for a met, instead of the other way around."

"It is of no consequence. Once I have my robotic body back, I will crush you beneath my heel, Autobot."

"We will see who crushes who," Prowl countered.

"So that machine will make us normal?" BlackArachnia cut in, having forgotten about Blitzwing. She was pointing one of her forward-most spider legs in the direction of the machine. "Will it make me into a full bot?"

"We don't even know yet if it will work," Prowl pointed out.

"Then get on with it!" the she-spider snapped.

"We were just about to do that when you both came in here and interfered," Megatron said with annoyance. "And I did not say that you could use it."

"Hey, I'm a Decepticon, remember?" BlackArachnia spat.

"Who travels with an Autobot, and who I have not seen for a long time," Megatron told her. "How do I know who you are truly loyal to?"

"Allow me to use the machine, and I'll do anything you ask," BlackArachnia said. "Especially if it makes me into a normal bot again." She then turned to scowl toward Prowl. "I will even take him out for you, if you wish."

Prowl tensed.

"Don't bother, I think he knows he's out-numbered," Megatron said. "Very well, BlackArachnia. I will allow you to use the machine… if you wish to go first."

Now BlackArachnia tensed. "I thought Lugnut was going first."

"Oh he was. But since you seem so anxious to give it a try… you can be the first to use it." Somehow, even with his ugly crocodile mouth, Megatron managed a smirk.

"I… I don't know about this…"

"Either use it now or don't use it at all," Megatron ordered. "If it works, you might be satisfied with the results. If it doesn't, it is no loss to me. But if you wish to use it at all, you will do so now."

Again, the she-spider hesitated.

"It might not work, you know," Prowl murmured.

"I know, but what choice do I have?" BlackArachnia snarled. "I'd rather be half-machine, at least, than full-organic for the rest of my life!" She sighed. "Fine, I'll be your stupid test-subject for your stupid machine, Megatron."

"Very good," Megatron said. Then he noticed Lugnut was doing something a little… odd. "What are you sniffing the air so much for?" the Decepticon leader demanded.

"I smell something!" the warthog announced.

"Did you wet the floor again?" the Decepticon leader asked in annoyance.

"No, my liege, I promised I would only do that outside!" Lugnut exclaimed. "What I smell is something different. Something else is in here!"

"It's not Starscream, is it?"

"No, my Lord! It smells like a different animal."

Megatron narrowed his eyes, then proceeded to look around the room. It was then that he noticed a squirrel hiding behind one of the crates. It seemed as though the little creature was attempting to inch toward the machine.

Snarling, Megatron dashed forward. Before the little squirrel even realized that he'd been spotted, the Decepticon was practically on top of him. Then, with a quick snap of his jaws, Megatron caught up the squirrel in his mouth. There was a terrible crunching sound, and blood dripped down out of his mouth.

After Megatron swallowed, he turned toward BlackArachnia. "Now if there are no further interruptions… you may proceed," he told her. She nodded and took her position on the platform. "Sumdac," Megatron bellowed, "Power up the machine! Let us see if this works."


	12. Chapter 12

Blurr felt bad about the innocent squirrel's death, he really did. But the creature had followed him into the cave, apparently having taken an interest in him. She had even seemed determined to help him in some way, and even seemed to pick up on what he was trying to do, more or less. Perhaps the animals of this world that were said to be less intelligent than humans, really were not stupid after all.

He felt a rage building up within him as he watched the blood ooze out of the side of the crocodile's mouth. In his own way, he had been fond of her. He'd been somewhat annoyed at the way she followed him so closely, after he'd entered the cave. And yet there had been something charming about her. He'd been able to pick up on the squirrel language quickly; it was one of the many talents he had as an intelligence officer. And thus, he was able to converse with her.

He had been impressed with her in his own way, though. It turned out that squirrels could speak very quickly in their tongue, and they could listen very fast, too. And thus, he was able to converse with her at his normal speed of talking and she could keep up easily. He'd given her snippets about his mission, and what happened to him, although she didn't seem to believe that he could be anything other than a squirrel. But she said she was determined to stay by his side, and help him in any way she could.

Blurr knew that, as was the way of squirrels, she had probably selected him to be her mate. It was not something Blurr would have asked for, nor did he want it, but… he knew, at least, that he would have liked to spend a bit more time with her. He would have wanted to get to know her better.

And now Megatron—Blurr knew that the crocodile was Megatron, for he recognized the Decepticon's voice—had coldly and cruelly eaten her. She was possibly one of the most special femmes—erm, females—that Blurr had ever met in his life. And now she was gone, just like that.

Blurr felt angry enough to attack Megatron outright. But he also knew that there wasn't much he could do, not as a squirrel. If he'd still had his normal, robotic body, he could have used his superior strength and weapons to attack the Decepticon. But as it was, right now, he couldn't do a single thing. Not unless he wanted to suffer the same fate as his female friend.

So he simply did the only thing he could do. He climbed up the wall of the cave and hid himself within a crevice, and stayed completely still. Maybe… hopefully… if he was patient and waited long enough, an opportunity would present itself where he could actually be of use.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

BlackArachnia sulked slightly where she stood, waiting for the machine to activate. She hated this, every bit of it. Yet she believed that she had no choice in the matter. She was simply desperate to get her at least partially robotic body back.

"BlackArachnia, wait," Prowl called out. "You don't have to do this."

"Shut up," the she-spider spat. "Human, fire up the machine already."

"Almost ready," Sumdac said with a gulp. "Alright, activating… now!"

The machine made a loud whirring noise, and the platform on which BlackArachnia stood began to glow brightly. And hotly. The light, heat and whirring noise intensified until they began to hurt her. Then suddenly she began to feel changes happening in her body.

Then she screamed. A loud, long, ear-piercing scream that echoed throughout the cave and bounced off the walls, increasing the shrillness tenfold.

It also caused Blurr to fall off his perch, landing on the ground below. But no one noticed him.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Back on the island, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Optimus were treating themselves to some of the local "energon", as they put it. That is, they figured that since they were getting hungry, they should eat the sort of "energon" that their new, organic bodies would be able to digest. Which meant figuring out just what their bodies hungered for, and what they could eat.

Bumblebee then began to suck nectar off of dozens of flowers, quickly realizing that it would take a long time to fill himself up. He was a huge bee, after all, and would require a lot more than what regular, small bees would take in order to fill up. Plus he began to lick the pollen off of some of the flowers, too. "Being a real bumblebee sucks nectar!" he finally said at one point, when he was getting tired of continuously trying to find more and more flowers.

Meanwhile Optimus was having his own problems. He knew that the great cats ate meat, but he'd never realized that the prospect of hunting and devouring an animal could be so… disgusting. Basically he had to take a life, then endure the sight of blood and ripping flesh off of bone and then swallow it.

He managed to let his animal instincts take over, though, and it made the meal much more bearable. Besides the fact that his stomach still hurt from throwing up the Allspark fragment, of course.

Bulkhead, on the other hand, actually had it the easiest. He found that he could simply nibble on a wide variety of the local greenery. Some of the large, leafy plants seemed to be particularly tasty to him.

And thankfully, the Dinobots seemed to be quite satisfied to stay on the opposite side of the island from them.

Once the trio of Autobots were finished eating, they regrouped in a clearing.

"Alright, now that we've eaten," Optimus murmured, taking a moment to lick his paw and brush it against his chin in an attempt to clean off some blood, "we need to figure out what to do next."

"I have no idea where Ratchet or Prowl could be at this point," Bumblebee muttered. "And I wonder where Sari is. She must be scared stiff about all this!"

"Sari can take care of herself, I'm sure," Optimus said, although he was worried about her too. She was basically homeless right now, having found a home with the Autobots. And right now, they weren't exactly in the best condition to take care of her.

Just then they heard a loud noise above their heads, one that sounded like a disturbance in the air. It didn't sound like an airplane or jet, though. It sounded more like… giant wings flapping?

Mere moments later, they spotted what looked like a gigantic lizard with wings flying over the island. Optimus, Bulkhead and Bumblebee all did a double-take when they saw it.

The three of them ran for cover, moving to hide beneath a nearby clump of trees. Then they watched with wary eyes as the giant creature circled over the island a few times.

"Looks like it's trying to find a place to land," Optimus murmured thoughtfully.

"Or it's trying to find something to eat," Bumblebee countered.

"Wait a minute," Bulkhead muttered, narrowing his eyes. "What is that, on its back?"

"Hey… I think that's Ratchet!" Optimus exclaimed, recognizing the giant canine after a moment. "And… I can't tell for sure but I think he has Sari with him!"

"YAHOO!" Bumblebee exclaimed, instantly making a move to bolt out of their hiding space. However, he caught himself at the last moment, then he turned to Optimus and asked, "But um, why is he riding on a giant dragon?"

"I think we should get his attention, then see if we can find out," Optimus replied.


End file.
